Author: Young, Murdo
Biography:
YOUNG, Murdo (1790-1870: ODNB)
The sometime proprietor and editor of the London Sun newspaper was born in Scotland the son of Inverness bookseller and proprietor of the Inverness Journal John Young (d 1815) and his wife, Catherine (d 1831). Commencing with The Shades of Waterloo! A Vision, in Verse, his earliest foray into letters was as a poet. In 1813 he was in Malta (in what capacity is unknown) where he witnessed a great plague. His report on the plague, published as an appendix to his poem Antonia, demonstrated that as a writer his real strength was in journalism. In London on 7 June 1823 at St Clement Danes he married Catherine (1801/2-1836), a daughter of Walter Ross and his wife, Elizabeth. Their three daughters became journalists, their son a lawyer. Having obtained a share in the conservative newspaper the Sun, in 1825, in succession to William Jerdan (q.v.), he became its editor. He shifted the newspaper’s politics to liberal, quadrupled its readership, greatly improved its production, and developed an innovative, rapid distribution system that changed the newspaper industry. Financial complications led in 1843 to his losing ownership of the paper, for which he now worked for pay. He died at the “Beach” tavern, in South Street, Brighton, on 10 July 1870 and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery, London. At probate, his estate was valued under £20. Newspaper obituaries emphasize his thirty years as editor of the Sun and “his energy in transmitting important intelligence to remote parts of the country by means of horse ‘expresses’ [a] remarkable [feat] of journalism before the days of railways and the electric telegraph.” (ODNB 2 Oct. 2024; Inverness Journal, 13 Jan. 1832; Daily Telegraph, 13 July 1870). JC
Other Names:
- M. Young