Sir George Young, 4th Baronet (1872–1952) was a British diplomat, journalist and Ottoman scholar.

Early life

Sir George Young, known as Georis, was born on 25 October 1872 He was the eldest son of

Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet (1837–1930) was a British governmental administrator and scholar. Early life George Young, 3rd Baronet (1837–1930) was born at Cookham on 15 September 1837, the oldest of the five sons of Sir George Young, 2nd ...

. His siblings were

Geoffrey Winthrop Young Geoffrey Winthrop Young (25 October 1876 – 8 September 1958) was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering. Young was born in Kensington, the middle son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet, a n ...

Edward Hilton Young Edward Hilton Young, 1st Baron Kennet (20 March 1879 – 11 July 1960) was a British politician and writer. Family and early life Young was the youngest son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet (see Young baronets of Formosa Place (1813), Young ba ...

and his sister Eacy Young, who died in her early teens. Young attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

but was expelled. He studied at universities in France, Germany, and Russia. In 1906 he was admitted as a member of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

Diplomatic service

Young entered the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

and by 1896 had been posted to

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. After a period in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

he was posted, in 1901, to the UK Embassy in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

since 1930). Whilst working there he edited, with the assistance of an archivist and other officials, the Corps de droit ottoman. The work was aimed at "those engaged in administrative or diplomatic affairs, in legal or commercial business, and in literary or scientific research in the Ottoman Empire". His assignment to the embassy in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1904 marked the start of a long relationship with Spain, eventually leading to his involvement in the civil war and his 1933 book "The New Spain" which has been widely quoted. Other diplomatic postings also led to books which often reflected the political situation in the various nations, e.g. his publication of "Nationalism and War in the Balkans" (1914) a few years after his 1906 posting as chargé d'affaires in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and his publication "Portugal" (1917) after he was posted to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

in 1914, as First Secretary. Whilst in Lisbon his was practically a lone voice against encouraging the involvement of Portugal in the First World War.

War service, journalism, Germany and labour politics

He left the Diplomatic Service in 1915 and from 1915 to 1918, he served in an Admiralty Intelligence Unit. In 1918, he enlisted in the

Honourable Artillery Company The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...

. After the war he moved into

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

first becoming a correspondent for the Daily News in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(1918–1919). His book "New Germany" was published in 1920, in it he wrote " in January, 1919, I resigned my commission and made my way out to Berlin as correspondent for the Daily News, I had two purposes in view. One was to find out to what extent we had really won the war-in the only way it could be won-by forcing the German people into revolution; and incidentally to take any opportunity that might offer of furthering that revolution." In 1920 he travelled to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for the Daily Herald, where he met the Labour Party delegation. He went on to join the Labour Party in 1915 and became a member of its advisory committee on international affairs. He stood as a Labour

parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of t ...

for South Bucks in the

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

of 1923 and 1924 but was unsuccessful on both occasions.

Spain

By 1937 Young was living in a villa in

Torremolinos Torremolinos () is a municipality in Andalusia, southern Spain, west of Málaga. A poor fishing village before the growth in tourism began in the late 1950s, Torremolinos was the first of the Costa del Sol resorts to be developed and is still th ...

which at that time was close to the southern front in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. He was a strong supporter of the Popular Front government which had been elected in 1936, and early in 1937 Young was involved in establishing the "University Ambulance Unit", with the intention that it would operate on similar lines to the

Friends' Ambulance Unit The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914 to 1919, 1939 to 1946 and ...

in which his brother Geoffrey had served during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The stated aim was to "serve both sides" but it would "be based to begin with on Malaga where the need now is greater". The unit was to be based at Young's home in Torremolinos which had been converted into a hospital. From there the Unit could provide medical assistance and other humanitarian aid to the beleaguered citizens of Malaga and the surrounding area but the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

victory in the Battle of Málaga, which led to the Málaga–Almería road massacre, meant that refugees became the focus of the Unit's work, first in Almeria and then in Murcia. He was also a member of the "International Committee for the Co-ordination of Assistance to Republican Spain" a group whose members were drawn from the Popular Front or had

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

associations. He maintained a home in Torremolinos until the end of his life.

Personal life

In 1904 Young married Jessie Helen (the daughter of Sir Courtenay Ilbert). They had two sons and two daughters. The eldest was Gerry Young. Jessie died in 1946, Young's second marriage, in 1948, was to Joan, daughter of Rev. Frank Bullock-Webster (who had been Chaplain to the embassy in

until 1909). Young died on 26 September 1952 at

Sonning Sonning (traditional: ; modern: ) is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England, on the River Thames, east of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. The village was described by Jerome K. Jerome in his book ''Three Men in a Boat'' as "the most fair ...

, Berkshire, England.

Selected publications

* Corps de Droit Ottoman, 1904 * Nationalism and War in the Balkans, 1914 * Portugal, 1917 * New Germany, 1920 * Diplomacy, Old and New, 1921 * Constantinople, 1925 * Egypt, 1927 * Freedom of the Seas, 1928 * The Pendulum of Politics, 1930 * Tales of Trespass, 1932 * The New Spain, 1933 * Poor Fred, 1937 * Federalism and Freedom, 1942

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, George 1872 births 1952 deaths 20th-century British diplomats Members of the Royal Victorian Order Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British journalists British non-fiction writers Spanish Civil War stubs Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates