A superbly preserved early James Young paraffin lamp; the sale of these in the 1860's provided one of the primary means of financial support for Livingstone's missionary journeys. 

James Young [1811-1883], inventor of the paraffin lamp, was responsible for a chemical revolution in the late 19th century and was, by some accounts, the world’s first chemical engineer. He was responsible for creating the very first oil refinery in the world, located in West Lothian, Scotland.

His work in oil refinery was also so impressive and productive, and his products so prolific, that he became known throughout the country as “Paraffin Young.” He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1861 and then the Royal Society in London in 1873.

My personal fascination with him has always revolved around his relationship with the missionary, David Livingstone. They studied together at the University of Glasgow. Both deeply committed Christians, young was jealous of Livingstone’s call to the mission field. He would really “do something” for the Kingdom. But James, just a chemist.

But Jesus does beautiful things in the lives of any of those who love Him.

His major discovery occurred in 1848, while working in the mining industry. Young noticed that oil was leaking from the ceiling of a coal mine. He deduced from this that there must be a way of intentionally extracting oil from coal. It turned out he was right. Young patented his method in 1850 with his partners, Edward Binney and Edward Meldrum. This led to them founding a business in Bathgate that became the first commercial producing oil refinery in the world.

This enterprise used Young’s technique of distilling oil from the locally mined shale or Torbanite (which is known colloquially as bog head coal, bog coal or cannel coal). From these he managed to extract oil and distill it into paraffin, amongst other useful chemicals, which is where he got his nickname.

And it was his love for Christ and people that drove him to invest his company’s resources toward the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s. He finally located a dilution of sulphuric acid as a cure and helped end the blight.

Then in 1865, to make the paraffin practical, he designed special paraffin lamps, one of which is offered here. Everyone wanted them and Young grew very wealthy. And what did he do with his wealth? He was David Livingstone’s “Countess of Huntingdon,” his great financier, encourager, and confidant. [See the life and letters of Livingstone]

Intact examples are very scarce, this one being entirely original and in working condition.

I used this for many years as an illustration when speaking at missionary conventions and fundraisers. Please note inventory lists two, I do have two identical examples. The price is for just one.