He was influential in education, religion, and social aspects, eventually helping relieve tensions between anthropologists and missionaries residing in the region.

Cullen Young had a broad range of interests, having passion in missionary work, but also education, ethnography, anthropology, and politics.

At the time of Thomas Young's birth, his father was serving as minister of Newington United Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh.

Her duties were to work for the medical side of the mission, and to complete preparation, she conducted two years of dispensing for a doctor in London.

At the time of her mental deterioration, Cullen's brother, John Young, lived as a neighbour in Edinburgh, and his wife was a psychiatrist.

[2] Young began his journey to Malawi to officially begin his missionary work in 1904 for the Livingstonia Mission while the region was under British colonial rule.

At certain times, they both displayed an idealised sense of tradition in which the ordinary villager gained favour rather than the educated elite, which may have influenced Banda's later political views and style of leadership.

"[5] Young's attempt to codify African tradition as an anthropologist missionary can be seen to have played a part in Kamuzu Banda's dictatorial style of rule and, as a result, the eventual authoritative nature of the Malawian political system.

There is also evidence that Banda and Young's relationship may have led to subsequent collaborative work within the Malawian community, such as editing the collection of stories, Our African way of life, in 1946.

[6] Young's previous records and writing also display some association with Clements Kadalie, the pioneer of black trade unionism in South Africa, although it is not made clear the extent of their relationship.

[4] Similar to many other missionaries during this time period, he remained ambivalent and unsure about the value of higher education for the African people.

[4] Young demonstrates evidence of thought that the British Empire was associated with noble virtues, and cannot be seen as a polemical anti-colonist, but can rather be viewed as a gradualist.

Some of the stories are told in a fairy-tale sort of style, and served to raise awareness about African culture in European countries.

Some concepts include African ancestor worship, and other important aspects of the culture that Young presumed helpful for a missionary to know.

T. Cullen Young is often viewed as an unusual exception to the antagonism between missionaries and anthropologists, and the Disruption of 1843 within the Scottish Presbyterian faith.

Young's vision for the future of African literature and historical conservation is especially crucial and novel, because this viewpoint was extremely rare in missionaries during this contextual period of time.

[2] Whereas Young generally succeeded in retaining his objective point of view within the restrictions of the procedures of his time, his missionary and ultimately outsider perspective could have easily contributed bias and blurred his vision.

The most important part of his legacy is likely his influence on the development modern Africa, his historical recordings of the Tumbaka people, and his impact on the future first President of Malawi, Hastings Banda.