Henry Young
Encyclopedia
Sir Henry Edward Fox Young, KCMG
(23 April 1803 – 18 September 1870) was the fifth Governor of South Australia, serving in that role from 2 August 1848 until 20 December 1854. He was then the first Governor of Tasmania, from 1855 until 1861.
, a well-known peninsular officer, and was born at Brabourne
, Kent
. He was educated at Dean's School, Bromley
, Middlesex
, and, intended for the bar, entered as a student at the Inner Temple
.
, and in 1828 was transferred to Demerara
, British Guiana
. In 1834 he became treasurer, secretary and member of the council at St Lucia, but from 1835 he was again in British Guiana as government secretary, and did important work over a period of several years during which occurred the emancipation of the Negro slaves. He was in London
in 1847 and was appointed lieutenant-governor of the eastern district of the Cape of Good Hope
.
where he arrived on 1 August 1848 on the Forfarshire. It was hoped that he would be able to announce some measure of responsible government but he had nothing to say on this subject, and it was not until February 1851 that an ordinance was passed constituting a Legislative council
of 24 members, of whom eight were nominated by the crown (four officials and four appointed by the governor) and 16 were to be elected. Under Young, South Australia received its first formal parliament.
The South Australian House of Assembly
comprised 36 members each elected from a different area. It was Governor Young who offered a prize of £2000 in 1851 for the first person to travel up the Murray River
to its junction with the Darling River
(now the town of Wentworth
) in a paddle steamer
. The prize was claimed in 1853. Due to the difficulty of navigating the Murray Mouth
, Young supported building the railway from the river port of Goolwa
to the new sea port at Port Elliot
(named after his friend, Charles Elliot
). Young was president of the Adelaide Philosophical Society 1853–1854.
to mark the fact and as a deliberate measure by free-settlers to distance its convict past. Sir Henry was the first Tasmanian Governor to occupy Government House, Hobart
, the beautiful neo-gothic Vice-Regal residence on the banks of the River Derwent.
At this time the constitution act was awaiting the royal assent, and the legislative council
might wisely have postponed meeting until news of this had been received. It, however, met in July and one of its acts was to form a committee to inquire into the working of the convict department. Dr Hampton, the comptroller-general of convicts, was summoned to appear as a witness and refused to attend. The council decided he was guilty of contempt and arrested him. Hampton served a writ of habeas corpus upon the sergeant-at-arms and the opinion of the law officers of the crown was against the legality of the council's proceedings. Young then attended at the house and prorogued the council until 20 October. The Times
severely commented upon Young's conduct, but he was commended by the British government. The Tasmanian supreme court
ruled against the council, and when it was taken to the privy council this decision was confirmed. The new constitution was soon successfully instituted and Young welcomed the change in his position, feeling that he was now above the battle and freed from much trying responsibility. He travelled through the island, showed much interest in its development, and capably carried out the work of his office.
whence he travelled to England and lived in retirement at London until his death there on 18 September 1870. He married in 1848 the eldest daughter of Charles Marryat who survived him. He was knighted in 1847.
He is buried in Brompton Cemetery
, London.
The town of Port Augusta
in South Australia is named after Henry's wife, Lady (Augusta) Young.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(23 April 1803 – 18 September 1870) was the fifth Governor of South Australia, serving in that role from 2 August 1848 until 20 December 1854. He was then the first Governor of Tasmania, from 1855 until 1861.
Early life
Young was the third son of Sir Aretas William YoungAretas William Young
Colonel Sir Aretas William Young was a British Army officer and colonial administrator of the early nineteenth century. After extensive military service in the Peninsular War and elsewhere, Young held a range of colonial government roles in the West Indies and Prince Edward Island, of which he was...
, a well-known peninsular officer, and was born at Brabourne
Brabourne
Brabourne is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, England. The village centre is just under five miles east of Ashford town centre.The centre of the modern village of Brabourne is the Five Bells pub, which overlooks the village green...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He was educated at Dean's School, Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, and, intended for the bar, entered as a student at the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
.
Early career
Young was, however, appointed in 1827 to a position in the colonial treasury, TrinidadTrinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, and in 1828 was transferred to Demerara
Demerara
Demerara was a region in South America in what is now Guyana that was colonised by the Dutch in 1611. The British invaded and captured the area in 1796...
, British Guiana
British Guiana
British Guiana was the name of the British colony on the northern coast of South America, now the independent nation of Guyana.The area was originally settled by the Dutch at the start of the 17th century as the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice...
. In 1834 he became treasurer, secretary and member of the council at St Lucia, but from 1835 he was again in British Guiana as government secretary, and did important work over a period of several years during which occurred the emancipation of the Negro slaves. He was in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1847 and was appointed lieutenant-governor of the eastern district of the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
.
Governor of South Australia
Young, was transferred a few months later to South AustraliaSouth Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
where he arrived on 1 August 1848 on the Forfarshire. It was hoped that he would be able to announce some measure of responsible government but he had nothing to say on this subject, and it was not until February 1851 that an ordinance was passed constituting a Legislative council
South Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the House of Assembly...
of 24 members, of whom eight were nominated by the crown (four officials and four appointed by the governor) and 16 were to be elected. Under Young, South Australia received its first formal parliament.
The South Australian House of Assembly
South Australian House of Assembly
The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide.- Overview :...
comprised 36 members each elected from a different area. It was Governor Young who offered a prize of £2000 in 1851 for the first person to travel up the Murray River
Murray River
The Murray River is Australia's longest river. At in length, the Murray rises in the Australian Alps, draining the western side of Australia's highest mountains and, for most of its length, meanders across Australia's inland plains, forming the border between New South Wales and Victoria as it...
to its junction with the Darling River
Darling River
The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is long, making it the longest river system in Australia.The...
(now the town of Wentworth
Wentworth, New South Wales
Wentworth is a small border town in the far south west of the state of New South Wales, Australia. It lies at the confluence of Australia's two most important rivers, the Darling and the Murray, the latter forming the border with the state of Victoria to the south. The border with the state of...
) in a paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
. The prize was claimed in 1853. Due to the difficulty of navigating the Murray Mouth
Murray Mouth
Murray Mouth is the point at which the River Murray meets the southern Southern Ocean. The Murray Mouth's location is changeable. Historical records show that the channel out to sea moves along the sand dunes over time...
, Young supported building the railway from the river port of Goolwa
Goolwa, South Australia
Goolwa is a historic river port on the Murray River near the Murray Mouth in South Australia, and joined by a bridge to Hindmarsh Island. The name "Goolwa" means "elbow" in Ngarrindjeri, the local Aboriginal language....
to the new sea port at Port Elliot
Port Elliot, South Australia
Port Elliot is a town in South Australia toward the eastern end of the south coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. It is situated on the sheltered Horseshoe Bay, a small bay off the much larger Encounter Bay...
(named after his friend, Charles Elliot
Charles Elliot
Sir Charles Elliot, KCB , was a British naval officer, diplomat, and colonial administrator. He became the first administrator of Hong Kong in 1841 while serving as both Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China...
). Young was president of the Adelaide Philosophical Society 1853–1854.
Governor of Van Diemens Land/Tasmania
Young began his duties in Van Diemens Land in January 1855. Sir Henry Fox Young's term as Governor of Van Diemens Land was significant, because in 1856 the Island colony received self-government, and was re-named TasmaniaTasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
to mark the fact and as a deliberate measure by free-settlers to distance its convict past. Sir Henry was the first Tasmanian Governor to occupy Government House, Hobart
Government House, Hobart
Government House, Hobart is the home and official residence of the Governor of Tasmania, Australia.The palatial house is located on Lower Domain Road in the Queens Domain, near the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, and is the official residence of the governor of Tasmania...
, the beautiful neo-gothic Vice-Regal residence on the banks of the River Derwent.
At this time the constitution act was awaiting the royal assent, and the legislative council
Tasmanian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the House of Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart...
might wisely have postponed meeting until news of this had been received. It, however, met in July and one of its acts was to form a committee to inquire into the working of the convict department. Dr Hampton, the comptroller-general of convicts, was summoned to appear as a witness and refused to attend. The council decided he was guilty of contempt and arrested him. Hampton served a writ of habeas corpus upon the sergeant-at-arms and the opinion of the law officers of the crown was against the legality of the council's proceedings. Young then attended at the house and prorogued the council until 20 October. The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
severely commented upon Young's conduct, but he was commended by the British government. The Tasmanian supreme court
Supreme Court of Tasmania
The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the middle level, and is able to both receive appeals from lower courts, and able to be appealed from.The ordinary sittings of the...
ruled against the council, and when it was taken to the privy council this decision was confirmed. The new constitution was soon successfully instituted and Young welcomed the change in his position, feeling that he was now above the battle and freed from much trying responsibility. He travelled through the island, showed much interest in its development, and capably carried out the work of his office.
Later life
Young left Tasmania on 10 December 1861 for MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
whence he travelled to England and lived in retirement at London until his death there on 18 September 1870. He married in 1848 the eldest daughter of Charles Marryat who survived him. He was knighted in 1847.
He is buried in Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...
, London.
The town of Port Augusta
Port Augusta, South Australia
-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...
in South Australia is named after Henry's wife, Lady (Augusta) Young.