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Sir Mark Young | |||||||||||
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 Portrait, early 1930s | |||||||||||
| 21st Governor of Hong Kong | |||||||||||
| In office 1 May 1946 – 17 May 1947 | |||||||||||
| Monarch | George VI | ||||||||||
| Colonial Secretary | David Mercer MacDougall | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | SirCecil Harcourt (Acting, Military Administration) | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Alexander Grantham | ||||||||||
| In office 10 September 1941 – 25 December 1941 | |||||||||||
| Monarch | George VI | ||||||||||
| Colonial Secretary | Norman Lockhart Smith Sir Franklin Gimson | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | SirGeoffry Northcote | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Takashi Sakai (underJapanese occupation) | ||||||||||
| Governor of Tanganyika | |||||||||||
| In office 8 July 1938 – 19 June 1941 | |||||||||||
| Monarch | George VI | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Sir Wilfrid Jackson | ||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||
| Born | (1886-06-30)30 June 1886 | ||||||||||
| Died | 12 May 1974(1974-05-12) (aged 87) | ||||||||||
| Spouse | Josephine Mary | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | King's College, Cambridge | ||||||||||
| Profession | soldier,colonialcolonialadministrator | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 楊慕琦 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 杨慕琦 | ||||||||||
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Sir Mark Aitchison YoungGCMG KStJ (Chinese:楊慕琦; 30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974) was aBritishcolonialadministrator, who is best remembered for his service as theGovernor of Hong Kong at the time of theJapanese invasion of the territory in 1941.
Born inBritish India, the son and grandson of senior members of theIndian Civil Service, Young followed in the steps of his two elder brothers and became a colonial administrator, serving in Ceylon, Sierra Leone, Palestine, before becominggovernor of Barbados and ofTanganyika. Young assumed the governorship of Hong Kong in 1941, three months before the outbreak of thePacific War. During theBattle of Hong Kong, Young refused to capitulate on numerous occasions, before surrendering on Christmas Day, 1941 in order to avoid further bloodshed. Young then became a Japaneseprisoner-of-war until 1945.
After a period of recovery, Young returned to Hong Kong in 1946 as its governor, Young introducedlimited democratic reforms in Hong Kong, which were undone by his successor,Sir Alexander Grantham. Retiring to England, Young died in Winchester in 1974.
Young was the third son of colonial administratorSir William Mackworth Young, sometimeLieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, and his second wife, Frances Mary, daughter ofSir Robert Eyles Egerton, also Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab.[1][2] Sir Robert Egerton was nephew ofSir John Grey Egerton, 8th Baronet and the ReverendSir Philip Grey Egerton, 9th Baronet.[3]
Young was educated atEton College andKing's College, Cambridge, where he tookfirst-class honours inClassics.
He entered the Eastern Cadet Service and went to Ceylon in 1909. He served in theBritish Army with theRifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) duringWorld War I from 1915.
Young served as principal assistantcolonial secretary ofCeylon (from 1923 to 1925 underSir Cecil Clementi andMurchison Fletcher from 1925 to 1928), then as colonial secretary ofSierra Leone from 1928 to 1930. From 1930 to 1933, he served as chief secretary to the Government of theBritish Mandate of Palestine.
From 5 August 1933 to March 1938, he served as governor and commander-in-chief ofBarbados. From November 1937 to February 1938, he served in the Government ofTrinidad and Tobago.
From 1938 to 1941, Young served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief ofTanganyika. With the war in Europe looming, Young restored confidence within the colony, which was apprehensive that it would be returned to Germany as part of peace negotiations. He also took the step of appointing Indian representatives to the territory's institutions. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Young swiftly disarmed and interned the colony's large German population.
On 10 September 1941 Young was appointedGovernor of Hong Kong. Japanese forces already occupied the Chinese mainland adjoining Hong Kong as part of their ongoing war with China, and early in Young's term Hong Kong came under the threat of Japanese invasion.
At 08:00, 8 December 1941, several hours afterPearl Harbor was attacked, Hong Kong came under fire by Imperial Japanese Forces.The battle lasted for 17 days, and ended when Young surrendered the colony to the Japanese GeneralTakashi Sakai on 25 December, known as the 'Black Christmas' by Hong Kong people, who were thensubject to Japanese rule for the next 3 years and 8 months. Young rebuffed several attempts byGeneral Maltby and others in the military to ask for terms and discuss surrender as early as the 18th. This was in part based on clear instruction byChurchill directly to Young, advising him that "Every Part of (Hong Kong) Island must be fought over and the enemy resisted with the utmost stubbornness. Every day that you are able to maintain your resistance you help the Allied cause all over the world."[4]
Young was a prisoner of war in Japanese hands from December 1941 to August 1945. He was initially held in thePeninsula Hotel and subsequently incarcerated in a prisoner of warcamp in Stanley, on the southern shores ofHong Kong Island. Shortly thereafter, he was later transferred, with other high-ranking Allied captives, including General Maltby, to a series of POW camps in Shanghai, Taiwan, and Japan, then to a camp near the Chinese-Mongolian border, and finally to alocation near Mukden (modernShenyang)Manchuria,[5] until his liberation at war's end. Despite being the colony's highest-ranking official, Young was mistreated by his captors.[clarification needed] Japan was defeated and surrendered in September 1945 and the British regained control of the colony.
Young resumed his duties asGovernor of Hong Kong on 1 May 1946, after having spent some timerecuperating in England. After returning, he proposedpolitical reforms that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to directly choose a 30-member representative Legislative Council. He envisaged that the new Council would handle everyday affairs and that its decisions would be immune to the Governor's veto. Young, echoing the plan of SirGeoffry Northcote, called for the promotion of local Chinese civil servants to the senior posts. These initiatives were eventually abandoned under the term of GovernorSir Alexander Grantham, an ardent conservative.[6] Young retired from the governorship in 1947.
Young and his wife, Josephine Mary, had four children, including Sir Brian Young.
Young,Sir William Robinson andChristopher Patten are the only governors not to have been honoured in Hong Kong after completing their post. This is probably because most of Young's time in Hong Kong was spent as prisoner of war, with only a brief period from 1946 to 1947 as governor.
His brothersGerard Mackworth Young (also director of theBritish School at Athens) and SirHubert Winthrop Young, KCMG, were also colonial administrators.[2]
Companion of theOrder of St Michael and St George (C.M.G.) (1931) Knight Commander of theOrder of St Michael and St George (K.C.M.G.) -Sir (1934) Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of St Michael and St George (G.C.M.G.) -Sir (1946)| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by | High Commissioner of Palestine High Commissioner for Trans-Jordan 1931–1932 (acting) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Barbados 1933–1938 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor ofTanganyika Territory 1938–1941 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Hong Kong 1941 | Succeeded byas Governor-General of Hong Kong Japanese occupation of Hong Kong |
| Preceded by AdmiralSir Cecil Harcourt as Administrator of Hong Kong | Governor of Hong Kong 1946–1947 | Succeeded by |
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 Chief secretaries of theBritish Mandate of Palestine | |
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