Alfred Karney Young

I'm intending to post this page as a new article in main space with the title of Alfred Young (jurist), and also to make the stub Alfred Young (cricketer) (which treats of the same subject) into a redirect.

Alfred Karney Young

Personal information
Full name	Alfred Joseph Karney Young
Batting	Right-handed
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1890	Kent
Career statistics
Competition First-class Matches 1 Runs scored 10 Batting average 5.00 100s/50s –/– Top score 6 Balls bowled – Wickets – Bowling average – 5 wickets in innings – 10 wickets in match – Best bowling – Catches/stumpings –/–
Source: CricketArchive, 14 October 2011

Sir Alfred Joseph Karney Young, KC, (1 August 1864 – January 5, 1942 Tamboerskloof, SA) was a barrister and judge in the British colonial judiciary who was Chief Justice of Fiji and Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific.

He also played first-class cricket, a single match for Kent in 1890.

Early life and family

Alfred Young was born in British Columbia where his father, William Alexander George Young (d.1855) (later Sir William Young, CMG), was Colonial Secretary and also acting Colonial Secretary of Vancouver Island. His mother was Cecilia Eliza Cowan Cameron (b. Georgetown, Demerara 1832),, c1832-?). She was the daughter of a a mulatto Creole, Cecilia Eliza Douglas (1812-November 1859), and a sea captain named Cowan who deserted them and went to America.

The Governor of British Columbia was Young's great-uncle, Sir James Douglas, who came from a tight-knit, exclusive circle of inter-related well-to-do families in Glasgow. He ran British Columbia and Vancouver Island as a family company. Apart from Alfred's father, the Colonial Secretary, the (entirely unqualified) Chief Justice was David Cameron, his mother's stepfather. See also below.

Alfred Young, who probably had a light coffee-coloured complexion, was educated in England at St. Mark's School, Windsor (later Imperial Service College) and at Magdalen College, Oxford from 1884–1887.

Cricketing career

Alfred Young played cricket twice for Kent, once in 1887 and again in 1890, his only first-class match: according to his Wisden obituary, he was a sound, steady batsman, showing special skill in placing the ball off his legs and late cutting.

Young was an early pioneer of cricket in British Honduras, his first posting in the judiciary of the British colonial administration.

Legal career

He was called to the Bar at the Inner Temple, 15 May 1889. His colonial legal career began with an appointment (possibly as Crown Prosecutor) in the British administration of British Honduras (now Belize), where he compiled a list of the colony's laws, and made a report on the 1901 Census.

Possibly unimportant fact: in April 1893 he sailed on the RMS Etruria from New York for Liverpool (also on board was the Governor of British Honduras, Sir Alfred Moloney)

Young was appointed Crown Prosecutor in the Seychelles in 1903, where he made the decennial revision of the current list of laws of the Seychelles. He served as Attorney-General of the British Central Africa Protectorate from May 1906 and Stipendiary Magistrate in Trinidad before being appointed Chief Justice of the Seychelles in 1909.

In June?? 1914, just before the outbreak of World War I, he was posted to as Attorney-general of Fiji, NB find ref and made an "Official Member" of the Fiji's Legislative Council.

He was in Sydney in June 1920, the guest at a rugby match of the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Walter Davidson. Davidson had been Governor of the Seychelles when Young was Crown Prosecutor and Attorney-General there. In November 1920 Young was appointed Chief Justice of the Leeward Islands, and in 1921 as a member of the Fijian Legislative Council. He was appointed Chief Justice of Fiji and Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific in December 1922, and received a knighthood the following year. He was in Sydney again in April 1927.

1928 Royal Commission

In 1928 Young headed a Royal Commission to investigate whether the swimming baths in the capital, Suva, operated a 'Europeans-only' policy.

Since 1879 the colony of Fiji had imported indentured workers (as cheap labour) from India to work in the European-owned plantations, which produced (according to demand) sea island cotton from the late 1860s to the early 1870s, then copra, then sugarcane from around 1880. This Indian immigration (which ended in 1916) came about because the Pacific Islands (particularly the New Hebrides and the Solomon Islands) couldn't provide enough labour. These islands provided labour from 1864 to 1911, when the European planters in the Solomon Islands and the New Hebrides brought about legislation to prevent emigration from those islands.

The involvement of the Indian Army and India generally during the First World War had convinced the colonial Indian Government of the necessity of enfranchising all Indian citizens, and this was granted in 1917. This move towards "responsible government" included Indians living in Fiji, which replicated in some degree the political motivation and agitation which within India pushed towards the Dominion status enjoyed by Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Moves towards independence continued to gather pace during Young's time as Chief Justice in Fiji, where many time-served previously indentured labourers from India had stayed on to live permanently. In 1928, Indian Fijians began to complain about about low numbers of enfranchised rate-payers in Suva, and about a perceived 'Europeans-only' policy of segregation in the two municipally-run public Suva swimming baths . The Governor, Sir Eyre Hutson appointed a Committee to investigate the municipal matter. The committee split into three factions which each produced a report on the situation. The disagreement between the three groups led to the Governor appointing Young to head a Royal Commission: he found that there had been a policy of segregation, which was brought to an end.

Later life and death

He retired in 1929, and married Frances May Buckley (née Miller) (1875–4 October 1952) on 19 April 1930. Her parents were Sir Henry Miller (9 September 1830–7 February 1917) and Jessie Orbell (d. 23 July 1920). Frances had married first St. John McLean Buckley on 14 June 1899; he was a wealthy New Zealand sheep rancher who died in 1916. See below.

Young was later appointed a Resident Magistrate in Cape Town, South Africa, and died there in Tamboerskloof on 5 January 1942, aged 76. NZ Obituary

Alfred Young's maternal family tree

Cecilia Eliza Cowan married (later Sir) William A. G. Young, RN, colonial secretary of British Columbia and later Governor of Gold Coast. They had three children:

• Sir William Douglas Young (c1859-1943), Governor of the Falkland Islands from 1915 to 1920
• Mary Alice Young (b. 1862), m. Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, later Governor of Gold Coast and Governor of British Guiana. She was a Lady of Grace of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, and in 1901 published a volume entitled The Siege of Kumassi, which described her experiences in Kumasi with Hodgson in that critical episode in the Ashanti War of 1900.
• Sir Alfred Joseph Karney Young (1864-1942) (Lamb says 1865, calls him Joseph Alfred)

David Cameron, Chief Justice of Vancouver Island, the second husband of Alfred Young's grandmother

Cecilia Eliza Cowan Cameron (b. Georgetown c1832-?) was the only daughter of Cecilia Eliza Douglas (1812-November 1859) and a sea captain named Cowan, who deserted his wife and daughter and went to America. Although Cecilia Douglas (Young's grandmother) went to the US to search for her missing husband she never found him, and on her return to Demerara met and married secondly (on 4 June 1838 in Georgetown, by Rev James Struthers, minister of St. Andrew's) David Cameron (1804–1872), a Scotsman from Perth who at the time was employed on a plantation (quite possibly owned by her father's Glasgow trading firm J. T. & A . Douglas and Company) in Demerara. David Cameron brought his family back to Britain in 1845, and sent his step-daughter Cecilia Cowan (Alfred's mother) to Cologne aged around 13-14 for her education..

Alfred Young's great-uncle Sir James Douglas, first Governor of British Columbia

Alfred Young's great-uncle (his mother's older brother) was James Douglas, the first Governor of BC, who had arrived at what became Fort Victoria in 1843 on the Beaver. He paid for Cecilia Cowan to travel to Vancouver Island, and in 1850 she made the long passage around Cape Horn aboard the Tory, to Fort Victoria, British Columbia. Most likely at Douglas' instigation, in 1853 the governor of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Andrew Colvile, offered Cameron the position of superintendent of the copmany's coal mining development at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island. Cameron accepted and arrived with his wife in July 1853 to join their daughter.

Alfred Young's maternal grandmother, Cecilia Eliza Douglas (1812-Nov. 1859), was the youngest of three known illegitimate children born to John Douglas (1772-1840), and Martha Ann Ritchie (later Telfer) (c1780s - July 1839), a free coloured Creole living in New Amsterdam, Berbice or Georgetown, Demerara. She may have married later one Richard Telfer, as her will names her as Mrs. M. A. Telfer. John Douglas, a Glasgow merchant with sugar plantations in [[Demerara]), and Martha Ritchie had already had two 'natural' sons (Alfred Young's uncles) in Demerara; they were Alexander (b. c1801-2) and James Douglas (b. Demerara 1803), and they lived in Georgetown when they were young. John Douglas returned to Scotland and married Jessie (or Janet) Hamilton of Greenock in 1809, but continued to consort with Martha Ritchie when he went back to Demerara by 1811, where their daughter Cecilia Eliza Douglas (1812-Nov. 1859) (Alfred Young's grandmother), was born in Georgetown.. His father, also John Douglas, had died in 1810, and he may have felt free to bring his two sons back to Britain; at any rate they travelled to Scotland (probably by summer 1812) where they were educated in Lanark.

Cecilia Eliza Douglas grew up in Demerara with her mother Martha Ann Telfer (neé Ritchie), and her grandmother, Rebecca Ritchie. Rebecca was a free coloured or mulatto woman from Barbados, who moved to New Amsterdam, Demerara with her daughter Martha in the late 1790s and owned 30 slaves. Martha Ritchie seems to have later married Richard Telfer in Demerara. When Martha Telfer died in July 1839 she left almost all her estate to her granddaughter (Alfred Young's mother), Cecilia Eliza Cowan.

Cecilia Douglas' older brother (Alfred Young's great-uncle) was James Douglas, the first Governor of BC, who arrived in 1843 on the Beaver. Through his offices Cecilia's second husband David Cameron obtained a supervisory position at the coal mines at Nanaimo, British Columbia, and soon after was appointed as the first (and entirely unqualified) Chief Justice of Vancouver Island.

Cecilia and David Cameron had one daughter, Edith Rebecca Cameron, Alfred Young's half-aunt. She married in 1860 Henry Montagu Doughty of Theberton Hall, Saxmundham, Essex. His brother was Charles Montagu Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta. Their parents were Rev. Charles Montagu Doughty of Theberton and Louisa Hotham, whose grandfather was the second son of Beaumont Hotham, 2nd Baron Hotham, 12th Baronet and Baron of the Exchequer for 30 years.

Charles Doughty-Wylie, VC, Alfred Young's cousin

Alfred Young's aunt Edith and her husband Henry Doughty (RN) had two sons (Young's cousins). The eldest was Lt-Colonel Charles Hotham Montagu Doughty, VC, (1868-1915), a soldier and military vice-consul in Turkey. He served and fought in Europe, Africa and China, changing his name to Doughty-Wylie to incorporate his wife's maiden name. He was killed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 having landing at V Beach from the SS River Clyde. He rallied the troops on the beach to attack Hill 141, its dominant feature, but was killed at the moment of victory. His younger brother was Rear-Admiral Sir Henry Doughty RN (1870-1921), who commanded Agincourt at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 according to one source, but another source omits this information.

William Alexander George Young

Alfred Young's father was a captain in the Royal Navy. He had enlisted in 1841, becoming a paymaster, purser, and secretary to two commodores over the next ten years. Young's seniority dates from Dec. 28 1853. (eg Navy List December 1862, p.62)

He was appointed captain in February 1855 (really? I don't think so.) and decorated for his services in the Baltic during the Crimean War. (1853-1856)

HMS Cruizer, sister ship to Harrier

In Feb 1855 Young was paymaster on the brand-new screw corvette HMS Harrier (1854) in Portsmouth, although the Harrier article says she was in the Baltic 1854-1856.

HMS Duke of Wellington

The August 1855 edition (Starts about ½-way down the pdf Feb. 1855 edition), says that Harrier was in the Baltic, and Young was not on it. That's because he was on the flagship, HMS Duke of Wellington as secretary to the Captain of the Fleet, Commodore Hon Fred. T. Pelham. Navy List, August 1855, p. 231 This would be return of the fleet under Admiral Dundas after Napier had been censured for not destroying Sveaborg. The Baltic Medal] was awarded for this campaign.

In July 1860 he was assigned to the paddle sloop HMS Hecate (230) (survey ship?) with a position of Additional, For Special Service.

Curiously, Hecate was fitted out for survey operations and assigned to the Pacific Station in 1860, where she surveyed the British Columbia coast. Hecate Strait is named for her. She went to the Australia Station in 1863.

Select bibliography

• Young, Alfred Joseph Karney (1897). British Honduras: A Collection of the Ordinances in Force, 3rd July, 1897. Waterlow & Sons Limited, printers, 1897. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Young, A. K. (1901). Report on the result of the Census of the Colony of British Honduras, taken on the 31st March, 1901. Belize: Printed at "The Angelus" Office. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (The Angelus was a Belize newspaper.)
• Herchenroder, Furcy Alfred (1904). Young, A. K. (ed.). The laws of Seychelles (3 Vols. 1872-1898, revised ed.). Government Printing Office. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

History of the Seychelles in 1909 at the Seychelles Nation

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Daley, Kevin (1996). Communalism and the challenge of Fijian unity (pdf) (Thesis). {{cite thesis}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (D. Phil. dissertation)
• Foster, Joseph (1893). Oxford men & their colleges. Oxford & London: James Parker & Co. p. 679. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Girard, Charlotte S.M. (Autumn 1977). "Sir James Douglas' School Days". BC Studies. 35. University of British Columbia. ISSN 0005-2949. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Girard, Charlotte S.M. (Winter 1979/80). "Sir James Douglas' Mother and Grandmother". BC Studies. 44. University of British Columbia. ISSN 0005-2949. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Girard, Charlotte S.M. (Winter 1986/87). "Some Further Notes on the Douglas Family". BC Studies. 72. University of British Columbia. ISSN 0005-2949. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Guyot, Joseph Nicolas (1907). The Law List, 1907. p. 310. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hendrickson, James E. (2000). "Young, Sir William Alexander George". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online 1881-1890, vol. XI. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Hunter, Teresa (2000). "Pioneer ships in British Columbia". In Basque, Garnet (ed.). Frontier Days in British Columbia. Heritage House Publishing Co. ISBN 9781894384018. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lamb, W. Kaye (January–April 1953). "Some notes on the Douglas family" (PDF). British Columbia Historical Quarterly. XVII (1 & 2). Victoria, B.C.: Archives of British Columbia: 41–53. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: date format (link)
• Massue, Melville Henry (Marquis of Ruvigny and Ranieval) (2013). [1911]. The Mortimer-Percy Volume. The Plantagenet roll of the blood royal: being a complete table of all the descendants now living of Edward III, king of England. Heritage Books. ISBN 9780788418723. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Shlomowitz, Ralph (July 1986). "The Fiji labor trade in comparative perspective, 1864-1914". Pacific Studies. 9 (3). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)

Jock McClean and St. John McLean Buckley

NB Not part of the main article, just sideways research which could maybe serve as the basis of a separate article...

Buckley was the nephew and heir of Jock McLean, originally with his brother Allan from Isle of Coll, Scotland, who went to Victoria, Australia as shepherds, then to Otago in 1852 and sold stuff to gold miners.

A few months after John Turnbull Thomson had surveyed the area, the pastoralist Jock McLean, looking for sheep range, would follow Thomson's directions into the district, stand on Grandview Peak as had the surveyor, and sketch out the boundaries of the massive sheep station of the Morven Hills.

FOREST RANGE STATION'S PROPERTY HISTORY A Scottish pioneer, Jock McLean, discovered the area with the help of a Maori guide (and John Turnbull's directions) in 1858. Grazing rights were taken up on a huge area of tussock grasslands in the centre of the South Island that Jock McLean named "Morven Hills". The area is between the plains of the McKenzie basin and the rugged country of Central Otago. There was a short period of gold mining activity about 1862 but since then the principle activity has been pastoral farming, mainly with Merino sheep. In 1910, the Morven Hills, New Zealand estate was split up for settlers and the three blocks of Breast Hill, Forest Range and Bargour were created for purchase. McLean died in 1902 leaving £213,000.

Picture of Redcastle, the mansion built on the McLean estate (now St. Kevin's College), north of Oamaru, by Jock McLean's heir and nephew, St. John McLean Buckley.

Lyttelton, New Zealand: Stuart Walls (a former employeee of Bank of New Zealand) was charged with having forged and uttered a cheque for £100, purporting to have been signed by St. John McLean Buckley. Remanded to appear Oamaru on Monday He was found guilty and sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment.

The estate of the late Mr. St. John McLean Buckley, of Otago (N.Z.), has been assessed for stamp duty at £138,770 (or £158,770 or £ 166,884 according to other sources) Buried in old Oamaru cemetery

St. John Buckley was President of Oamaru Caledonian Society.

References

References