Hubert Winthrop Young

Hubert Winthrop Young
Born 1885
Wrexham, Denbighshire, Wales
Died 20 April 1950
Evora, Portugal
Nationality United Kingdom
Occupation Soldier, diplomat and colonial governor
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (1934)
Distinguished Service Order (1919)
Order of El Nahda, 3rd Class (Kingdom of Hejaz) (1920)

Major Sir Hubert Winthrop Young, KCMG, DSO, (1885–1950) was an English soldier, politician, diplomat and colonial governor.

Early life and army

Born in 1885, Young was educated at Eton before being commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1904.[1] After four year he was transferred to the Indian Army as an officer in the 116th Mahrattas.[2] Young served on the north west frontier becoming an assistant political officer in Mesopotamia during the first world war.[2] He was awarded the DSO for gallantry in Mezerib, Syria in September 1918.[1]

Diplomat

In 1919 Young joined the Foreign Office in London, after three years he was transferred to the Colonial Office as an assistant secretary in the Middle East Department.[2] He was later appointed Colonial Secretary at Gibraltar.[2] In 1929 he moved to Iraq and in 1932 was appointed the first Minister of Baghdad.[2] After a few months he was appointed Governor of Nyasaland the first of three governorships:

Young had been knighted in 1934 and in 1942 he returned to London where he organised European relief work until he retired in 1945.[2]

He wrote the sympathetic book The Independent Arab, a part-memoir, part-travelogue detailing his diplomatic and military time in the Middle East.

Politics

Following his retirement he took an interest in politics and stood twice as a candidate in the 1945 general election at Harrow West for the Liberal Party and again at a by-election in Edge Hill, Liverpool in 1947 without success.[2]

Family life

Young had married Margaret Rose Mary Reynold in 1924 and they had three sons, Young died in Portugal on 20 April 1950.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0300you.html Major Hubert Young at Archives Hub
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 "Major Sir H. Winthrop Young - An Able Colonial Administrator" (Obituaries). The Times (London). Saturday, 22 April 1950. (51672), col F, p. 8.