Murdo Young (1790/91–1870)
Murdo Young (1790/91–1870) was a newspaper editor and proprietor who revolutionised the speed of news collection and distribution, as editor and owner of London evening newspaper The Sun.
He was born in Scotland to John Young, owner of the Inverness Journal. He witnessed the 1813 Maltese plague epidemic, and after an unsuccessful attempt to become a poet, settled in London as a reporter. In 1825 he became editor and part-owner (with a quarter share) in The Sun, changing it from Tory to Whig in its politics. He tripled its circulation within four years, by providing more up-to-date news of Parliamentary debates than his rivals (up to 12 hours ahead of the morning papers), and ensuring that copies reached provincial readers, by pushing his team of reporters, distributors and the stage coach system to their limits, in the days before railways and telegraphs.[1][2]
Young took full control of The Sun in 1833 after his partner Patrick Grant went bankrupt. Grant accused Young of underhand tactics, and set up the rival True Sun, but it was unsuccessful, and Young bought his rival and merged it into his own Sun in 1837. In 1845 he handed over the editorship to Charles Kent, who later married Young's eldest daughter Ann. Another daughter, Catharine, worked on The Sun as reporter and leader writer. Young continued as sole owner of The Sun until he was forced to sell it in 1862 after years of financial and legal troubles.
In 1838 Young published a special edition printed in gold ink for the coronation of Queen Victoria.[3]
He published a book suggesting a new system of shorthand, Readable Short-hand, Self-taught, in 1869
He died in Brighton at the Beach tavern, on 10 July 1870.
References[edit]
- ↑ Morgan, SJ (14 June 2018). "Young, Murdo (1790/91–1870)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.60202. Retrieved 18 January 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Fox Bourne, Henry (1887). English Newspapers: Chapters in the History of Journalism, vol. 2. https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/English_Newspapers/haY4AAAAIAAJ: Spotto & Windus. pp. 26–27. Search this book on
- ↑ Griffiths, Dennis (1992). Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422-1992. Macmillan. p. 616. Search this book on
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