Alexander Bell Filson Young (1876–1938) was a journalist, who published the first book about the sinking of the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'', called ''Titanic'', in 1912 only 37 days after the sinking. He was also an essayist, war correspondent in the Boer War and World War I, a programmes advisor to the BBC, and the author of two novels. Beside his literary work, he was an organist and composer, and a pioneer of motoring and aviation.

Biography

Alexander Bell Filson Young was born in Ireland in 1876, at Ballyeaston, County Antrim. He was the son of the Revd. William Young and Sarah Young (née Filson). In his youth he was a pupil of the organist

James Kendrick Pyne James Kendrick Pyne (5 February 1852 – 3 September 1938) was an English organist and composer. Biography He was born in Bath into a musical family. His father, also James Kendrick Pyne (1810–1893) was organist at Bath Abbey for 53 years ...

(who had been a pupil of Samuel Sebastian Wesley). He retained his skill at organ-playing and his interest in music throughout his life, and even wrote a few compositions. His first publication was ''A Psychic Vigil'' (1896), which he issued under the pseudonym, 'X. Rays'. Securing a job as a war correspondent for ''

The Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', he was in South Africa during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. His accounts of his experiences and observations there formed the basis of his book, ''The Relief of Mafeking ... With an account of some earlier episodes'' (1900). This was followed in 1901 by his ''A Volunteer Brigade: notes of a week's field training ...''and 'Mastersingers', musical criticism Young was an early motoring enthusiast, and in 1904 published ''The Complete Motorist: being an account of the evolution and construction of the modern motor-car, with notes on the selection, use and maintenance of the same, and on the pleasures of travel upon the public roads'' (which went into eight editions), and ''The Joy of the Road'' (1907). To make a career in publishing he wrote continually on his many enthusiasms and on subjects which would interest the public. In 1903 appeared his ''Ireland at the Cross Roads''; in 1905 his novel, ''The Sands of Pleasure'' (at the time considered a scandalous account of prostitution in Paris); in 1906 his ''Venus and Cupid: an impression .. after Velasquez ...'', his ''Christopher Columbus and the New World'' and his ''Mastersingers: appreciations''; in 1907 his ''The Wagner Stories'' and ''The Lover's Hours'' (poems); in 1908 a second novel, ''When the Tide Turns''; in 1909 ''Memory Harbour: essays''; in 1911 ''More Mastersingers'' (a second volume of musical criticism); in 1912 ''Opera Stories'', his ''Letters from Solitude and Other Essays'' (reprinted from the ''Saturday Review'') and ''A House in Anglesey'' (privately printed). Young also edited ''Outlook'', and literary columns in ''The Saturday Review'' and the ''Daily Mail''. In 1911 Young visited Belfast to see the RMS ''Titanic'' under construction; and when it sank in 1912 his book about the disaster appeared little over a month afterwards. In 1914 he made the first of four contributions to the "Notable Trials" series with an account of the trial of the Frederick Seddon and his wife. That year

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''Dubliners'' was published by Grant Richards; Young had commended the book earlier when working as a reader for Richards. Joyce suggested that Young should write an introduction to the work which he preferred not to do. Before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Young briefly spent time on Sir David Beatty's flagship, HMS ''Lion'', and on the outbreak of war in 1914 he was able, through the influence of Admiral Lord Fisher, First Sea Lord, to enter the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and be assigned to Beatty's flagship again from November that year. He was at the Battle of Dogger Bank, but left the navy in 1915 before the Battle of Jutland (1916). After the War he published in 1921 ''With Beatty in the North Sea'' and ''With the Battlecruisers''. He also wrote the article on David Beatty for the 12th edition of ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1922). He also continued his writing on a variety of other subjects – ''A Christmas Card'' (1914), ''New Leaves: essays'' (1915), ''Cornwall and a Light Car'' (1926), and he resumed his contributions to the "Notable Trials" series, with accounts of the trials of H. H. Crippen (1919),

Edith Thompson and Frederick Bywaters Edith Jessie Thompson (25 December 1893 – 9 January 1923) and Frederick Edward Francis Bywaters (27 June 1902 – 9 January 1923) were a British couple executed for the murder of Thompson's husband Percy. Their case became a ''cause c ...

(1923) and

Herbert Rowse Armstrong Herbert Rowse Armstrong TD MA (13 May 1869 – 31 May 1922) was an English solicitor and convicted murderer, the only solicitor in the history of the United Kingdom to have been hanged for murder. He was living in Cusop Dingle, Herefordshi ...

(1926). In the early days of broadcasting he came to know John Reith and in 1926 became an adviser on radio programmes for the BBC. From 1930 to 1936 he contributed a weekly essay to the BBC's periodical, ''Radio Times''. In the early 1930s a proposed television play based on Young's book, ''Titanic'' (1912), was shelved because of protests by relatives of persons involved in the sinking. From 1926 he produced a succession of folk plays by Fr

Bernard Walke Bernard Walke, born Nicolo Bernard Walke, was an English Anglican priest. Most of his ministry was in three Cornish parishes; he was parish priest of St Hilary from 1913 to 1936. Personal life Bernard Walke was the eldest of three sons of a ...

to be produced by the BBC from St Hilary Church, Cornwall]. He continued with some writing on miscellaneous subjects. In 1934 his ''Shall I Listen? - Studies in the Adventure of Broadcasting'' appeared. At the age of fifty-eight, in 1936 he learned to fly; and in the same year published his radio broadcasts of the experience as ''Growing Wings''. Young was also an able photographer. A bromide print by him of

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturd ...

is held by the National Portrait Gallery, London. He died in 1938 in London. His funeral was held at St Mary's church, Bourne Street. He was twice married, latterly to Vera (née Rawnsley) North in 1918 (whose third husband would be the writer Clifford Bax), with whom he had two sons, William David Loraine Filson-Young and Richard Filson-Young (b. 1921). Both were killed as British Royal Air Force pilots in World War II – Richard in 1942 and William (Billy) in 1945.

References

External links

* *
Filson Young Website
with biography of Filson Young by Silvester Mazzarella
Titanic by Filson Young
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Filson British male journalists British essayists Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland 1876 births 1938 deaths British male essayists

Biography

References

Further reading

External links