Frederick Young (1786–1874) was the founder of the Sirmoor Battalion later

2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) The 2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) was a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army before being transferred to the British Army on India's independence in 1947. The 4th Battalion joined the Indian Army as the 5th Ba ...

, the first

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...

regiment to fight for the British. Young was born in

Culdaff Culdaff () is a village on the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal, Ireland. Known for its beach, it attracts tourists from all over Ireland. , the population was 237. The present village dates back to the 8th century and was originally the s ...

, Inishowen peninsula, in the north of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He belonged to an important landlord family which came to

in the 17th century. Members of the family still reside in Culdaff House. His father was Rev. Gardiner Young who served as

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

in Moville and Coleraine. Frederick Young went to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

at the age of 15, joined the army and became a general. He founded the Ghurkha Regiment as a lieutenant, shortly after an incident involving Sir

Rollo Gillespie Major-General Sir Hugh Robert Rollo Gillespie (21 January 1766 – 31 October 1814Dictionary of Indian Biography; Charles E Buckland p166 (1906)) was an officer in the British Army. The Army's historian Sir John Fortescue called him "The bravest ...

during an invasion of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

. Referring to the establishment of the regiment, he said, "I came there one man; I came back three thousand". He built a house at

Mussoorie Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is about from the state capital of Dehradun and north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill s ...

and planted the first tea and potato ever grown in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...

. He married Jeanette Bird in 1825 and had eight children. He settled in Ireland after he left the army and died in 1874. A memorial to the Young family can be seen in the village of Culdaff opposite the village church where members of the Young family are interred.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Frederick 1786 births 1874 deaths People from County Donegal British East India Company Army generals