William Tanner Young was the first British Consul in Jerusalem. He was appointed in 1838 and arrived in 1839. He held the title "vice-consul" until 1841, and "consul" from then until 1845.
Young was the son of an underwriter and a protégé of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Prior to his appointment Young had traveled in Syria and Palestine in 1835-36.
According to Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray M'Cheyne, Young was "actuated by a deep and enlightened attachment to the cause of God's ancient people", i.e. the Jews. John James Moscrop suggests that Young attempted to serve two masters: the London Jews Society and the Foreign Office. In mid-1839, he began to ask the Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, for British protection for Jewish people.
In 1848, after his return to England, Young published a translation from French of The Truth in regard to England in 1817.
References
- "Consulate General history". British Consulate-General Jerusalem. Archived from the original on 20 October 2011.
- Chapman, Rupert L. (2018). Tourists, Travellers and Hotels in 19th-Century Jerusalem: On Mark Twain and Charles Warren at the Mediterranean Hotel. Routledge. Retrieved 16 November 2021.
- ^ Moscrop, John James (2000). Measuring Jerusalem: The Palestine Exploration Fund and British Interests in the Holy Land. A&C Black. pp. 28–31. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- Harman, Allan, ed. (1996). Mission of Diiscovery: The Beginnings of Modern Jewish Evangelism. Christian Focus Publications. p. 125.