Born on 6 July 1885, Young was the second son of colonial administrator
William Mackworth Young and his second wife, Frances Mary, daughter of Sir
Robert Eyles Egerton, KCSI, JP, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab from 1877 to 1882, Sir Robert Egerton was nephew of the 8th and 9th
Grey Egerton baronets. Gerard's paternal grandfather was
Sir George Young, 2nd Baronet. He was educated at
Eton before being commissioned into the
Royal Artillery in 1904. After four year he was transferred to the
Indian Army as an officer in the
116th Mahrattas. Young served on the
North West Frontier becoming an assistant political officer in Mesopotamia during the First World War. He was awarded the
DSO for gallantry in
Mezerib,
Syria in September 1918. ==Diplomat==