He was born in
Perth in 1874, the son of Andrew Young and his wife, Llllas Burns. His older brother was
Andrew Young. He graduated with an MA from the
University of Glasgow in 1897. He then undertook a second science degree at the
University of Edinburgh specialising in
geology and graduating with BSc in 1903. Prior to graduation (1899–1901) he joined
Sir John Murray and
Frederick Pullar in their Bathymetric Survey of all Scottish lochs. In 1903 he succeeded his brother Andrew as lecturer in Geology at the South African College in
Cape Town. He was created Professor in 1904 at
Witwatersrand University. In 1904 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
Sir John Murray,
Thomas Nicol Johnston,
John Horne and
James Geikie. He joined the South African Philosophical Society in 1905 and was a member at the point of its transformation into the
Royal Society of South Africa in 1908. He was made a Fellow in 1914. He retired in 1934. He died in
Johannesburg on 21 April 1949. ==Family==