Sir John Young 1st Baron Lisgar

Trustee for his sisters, and apparently beneficiary himself, of 'slave-property' in Surinam. Son of Sir William Young 1st bart. (d. 1848, q.v.), MP for Cavan 1831-1855, Governor-General of New South Wales 1861-1867 and Governor-General of Canada 1869-1872.

1. Sir John Young received compensation from the Dutch state for 211 enslaved people on the Kent estate in Surinam and further amounts for 179 enslaved people on a second estate there, Petersburg, in 1863. None of his entries in the ODNB, The Australian Dictionary of Biography, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography or the History of Parliament pick up the family's slavery connections. Sir William Young 1st bart. had reportedly purchased the Kent estate on foreclosure in 1843, and settled it on his children Anna and Lucy.

The Antislavery Reporter 01/06/1861 p. 129 commented on Sir John Young's involvement in Surinam and reprinted correspondence between the British Consul H. C. [also given as D.C.] Munro and Lord John Russell in 1859 and 1860.

1. No. 110 (889) Plantage Kent (aan de rivier Saramacca, divisie Saramacca) van eigenaren Sir John Young, baronet, en Anna Young (beiden woonachtig in Engeland, de eerste tijdelijk in Australie); tegemoetkoming f 61.800; dd 03 11 1863 [private database of Surinam compensation claims of Okke ten Hove, sourced from Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 225, claim no. 110]; No. 169 (1421) Plantage Petersburg (aan de rivier Suriname, divisie Boven Suriname en Thorarica) owned by Sir John Young, baronet (compensation f 53.700; the claim was for 83 enslaved people but the award was for 179), sourced from Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Algemene Rekenkamer CB (Comptabel Beheer), nummer toegang 2.02.09.08, inventarisnummer 227, claim number 169; E. I. Carlyle, ‘Young, John, Baron Lisgar (1807–1876)’, rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30272, accessed 23 Dec 2015]; John M. Ward, 'Young, Sir John (1807-1876)', http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/young-sir-john-4905; Charles A. Thompson, 'Young, Sir John, Baron Lisgar, second Governor General of Canada', http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/young_john_1807_76_10E.html; http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/young-john-1807-1876 [all accessed 23/12/2015].

We are grateful for the help of Okke ten Hove with this entry.