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Mark Aitchison Young
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Sir Mark Aitchison Young, GCMG (30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974, ???) was a British administrator who became the Governor of Hong Kong during the years immediately before and after World War II.
Colonial administration
Young served as Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary of Ceylon from 1923 to 1928, then as Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone from 1928 to 1930.
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Encyclopedia
Sir Mark Aitchison Young, GCMG (30 June 1886 – 12 May 1974, ???) was a British administrator who became the Governor of Hong Kong during the years immediately before and after World War II.
Early life, service in war
Young was educated at Eton (secondary) and King's College, Cambridge University. He entered the Ceylon Civil Service in 1909 and served in the British military during World War I from 1915.
Colonial administration
Young served as Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary of Ceylon from 1923 to 1928, then as Colonial Secretary of Sierra Leone from 1928 to 1930. From 1930 to 1933, he served as Chief secretary to the Government of the British Mandate of Palestine.
From 5 August 1933 to March 1938, he served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Barbados. From November 1937 to February 1938, he served in the Government of Trinidad and Tobago. Then from 1938 to 1941, he served as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Tanganyika Territory British Mandate.
Hong Kong Governor, prisoner of war
He served as Governor of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1947. During his term, which coincided with the Pacific theatre of World War II, Hong Kong came under the threat of Japanese invasion.
At 08:00, December 8, 1941, several hours after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Hong Kong came under fire by Imperial Japanese Forces. The battle lasted for 18 days, and ended when Young surrendered the Colony to the Japanese General Takashi Sakai on 25 December, known as the 'Black Christmas' by Hong Kong people, who were then subject to Japanese rule for next 3 years and 8 months.
Young was a prisoner of war in Japanese hands from December 1941 to August 1945. He was initially incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in Stanley, on the southern shores of Hong Kong Island, but was later transferred, with other high ranking allied captives, to a prisoner of war camp in Manchuria. Despite being the colony's highest ranking official, Young was mistreated by his captors. Japan was defeated and surrendered in September 1945 and the British regained control of the colony.
Post-Japanese occupation governorship
Young resumed his duties as Governor of Hong Kong on 1 May 1946, after having spent some time recuperating in England. After returning, he proposed political reforms that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to choose a representative Legislative Council. He envisaged that the new Council would handle every-day affairs and that its decisions would be immune to veto, even to that of the Governor himself. Reception to his proposed reforms was cool, due largely to the fact many Hong Kong residents at that time believed that the colony would soon be taken over by the People's Republic of China. The question was also raised of whether the Communist Party of China would influence elections in Hong Kong should Young's reforms be adopted. As a result, these initiatives were eventually abandoned under the term of Governor Alexander Grantham. Young retired from the governorship in 1947.
Personal life
Young and his wife, Josephine Mary, had two sons and two daughters.
Honours
- C.M.G., 1931
- K.C.M.G., 1934
- G.C.M.G., 1946
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