Author: Young, William
Biography:
YOUNG, William (1749-1815: ODNB)
The eldest son of the first baronet Sir William Young (1724/5-88), plantation- and slave-owner and colonial administrator, he was born at Charlton, matriculated at University College Oxford, travelled in Europe and published an account of his travels, and married Sarah Lawrence in 1777. They had six children. He was elected to Parliament for St. Mawes, Cornwall, from 1784 to 1806 and then for Buckingham in 1806-7. On the death of his father in 1788 he became the second baronet. He inherited four sugar plantations in the West Indies together with 896 slaves, but he also inherited his father's large debts, and in the end the plantations went bankrupt. After the death of his wife in 1791 he undertook a tour of several months, visiting the plantations and recording his observations, which were published in 1801 in the second edition of Bryan Edwards' Historical Survey of the Island of Saint Domingo. In 1793, Young married Barbara Talbot, whose marriage settlement included 200 slaves on the family estate of Calliaqua in St. Vincent. As an MP, Young argued in vain against abolition, arguing instead in favour of gradual reform of the slave trade. He was appointed Governor of Tobago in 1807, a position he held until his death at Government House in Tobago in 1815. (ODNB 18 Mar. 2021; ancestry.com 18 Mar. 2021; LBS 18 Mar. 2021) HJ
Other Names:
- W. Young