Dr George Young, c 1726-1803

My maternal grandmother was the story teller of our family. Her grandchildren assembled around her dining table every Saturday to hear her stories of nineteenth century characters, living lives far more exciting than our existence as early ‘babyboomers’, growing up on the suburban fringes of post-war Sydney. Only one story was documented, the story of Maria Isabella Flockton, née Cruikshank, my grandmother’s great-grandmother. Just before Maria died in 1896 she wrote a Statement, which today we’d call a brief memoir. In part, Maria said she was born on the Island of St Vincent in 1810, was brought to Hammersmith near London as a baby, and was raised in England by family friends after her parents’ early deaths on St Vincent. When she reached her majority she inherited two plantations on St Vincent, ‘Mesopotamia’ and ‘Cummacrabou’. Her exotic story stirred my childhood imagination.

Kingstown, St Vincent

An Historical Account of the Island of St. Vincent, by Charles Shephard, esq. (1830)

Five decades went by before Maria re-entered my life with a vengeance. Bitten by the bug of family history, I endeavoured to discover all of my mother’s direct forebears, progressively placing a name in every box to create six-generation family tree for her. Among all those names, dates and places, Maria stood out as the most unusual of my ancestors. Thanks to her Statement, I hadn’t had to work hard at finding her, but why was she born on St Vincent?

The whole notion of that small island in the Caribbean was romantic. James Michener had found it so, proved by his best-selling book Caribbean. I was intrigued by the notion that Maria was a sugar heiress, with a fortune built on the ownership of slaves. The less said about that, the better. By Australian standards, she definitely qualified as an unusual forebear. Following her story led me to an even more unusual forebear, her grandfather Dr George Young.

Doctors might be regarded as run-of-the-mill ancestors, but George was different. To me he epitomizes everything that was romantic about the eighteenth century’s age of enlightenment and the growth of empire. As the first director of the oldest botanical garden in the Western Hemisphere, he had links to Sir Joseph Banks, and to William Bligh of ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ and NSW ‘Rum Rebellion’ fame. Discovering our family’s link to Dr Young via Maria was exciting.

On a trip to visit my daughter in London, I located Maria’s baptism record, listing her parents as ‘James and Sarah Cruikshanks of the Island of St Vincent’. The early parish records for the Caribbean have suffered from the effects of a tropical climate, but back in Australia I did manage to find a marriage on St Vincent in 1808 for James Cruikshank, merchant, and Sarah Young. There was also a christening at St George’s Kingstown on 30 April 1772 for Sarah Young, daughter of Dr Young, doctor, and her older brother William, christened on St Vincent on 1 May 1771 as a son of Dr Young. Was this ‘my’Sarah and, if so, who was Dr Young? So few British settlers were on St Vincent at that time that Dr Young’s identity quickly surfaced, via the wonders of Google. To my surprise, much had been written about his work, and fortunately his year of death was given, 1803.

I ordered his will from England and it connected him definitively to Maria by mentioning the names of his two estates on St Vincent, the same as in her Statement. His will named his wife as Sarah and, given his emphasis on legal heirs, George and Sarah must have been married although no record of marriage has surfaced. His will also named three children, George, William and Sarah, but no baptism has been found for George Jnr. Possibly the marriage and the birth of his eldest child took place on another Caribbean island, during Young’s travels to collect plants.

By now Dr George Young had me well and truly intrigued. The potted histories found via Google describing him as an army surgeon and keen horticulturalist left many gaps. For example, had he attended university? An email to Scotland eventually obtained a result and, aided by army records, my opening paragraph of his story now contained new information about him:

Britain’s Seven Years’ War against the French commenced in 1756, soon after George Young graduated as a Master of Arts from the University of Glasgow in 1754.(Note 1) His education proves that his family had money but his name is a‘common’ one and his origins remain unclear, except that he was born around 1726.(Note 2) He commenced duty with the British Army’s 48th Regiment of Foot as an Apothecary's Mate on 22 July 1758.(Note 3) The Regiment had long been in America but in July 1758 was engaged in the renowned siege of Louisbourg (now Nova Scotia, Canada), suggesting that Young lived here in 1758.(Note 4) The Regiment then participated in the capture of Quebec in 1759.(Note 5) In 1762, now as Surgeon to the Regiment, George Young was part of Lord Albemarle's Expedition to Havana, on the Caribbean island of Cuba.(Note 6) The War ended in 1763 and on 2 February 1764 Young was granted MD status by his alma mater, seemingly based on his impressive practical experience in the field of battle.(Note 7) His known appointment to the Garrison of St Vincent as Surgeon at its military hospital was now factually dated to 27 February 1764. (Note 8) 

The island, newly ceded to Britain, had formerly been the home of French plantation settlers, a small native population of ‘Yellow Carib’ Indians and a large group of ‘Black Caribs’, descended from shipwrecked and escapee African slaves. A colonial official present on St Vincent in 1763, Sir William Young, was later discovered through legal documents and my DNA matches to have been the brother of Dr George Young, both being the sons of Dr William Young, 1687-1747.

Compiling the next part of George’s story was made easier by the astonishing number of books written about the botanic garden at St Vincent. It is famous for being the first such garden in the western hemisphere, and famous as the place where the breadfruit tree was brought from the Pacific to the West Indies in January 1793 by William Bligh, of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' fame. Days and weeks spent reading books at the State Library of Victoria and reading digitized copies of old books on the internet turned up various snippets relevant to George Young’s career.

On St Vincent from February 1764, George Young would have met, or renewed his acquaintanceship with, Brigadier-General Robert Melville, the first Governor of the Southern Caribbean. Melville was a couple of years older than George Young, had also studied medicine, and was a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in London. George Young described Melville as 'a lover of botany and a man disposed to encourage every undertaking that may tend to public utility'.

In 1765 Governor Melville visited St Vincent and the two men discussed the Society’s offer, to anyone interested in establishing a botanic garden in the North American colonies, of a 'premium' [reward] for articles raised in those gardens which would benefit the trade and commerce of Britain. Recognizing Young’s skill and perseverance, Melville promised to procure a plot of land for a garden at St Vincent, provided Young would take care of it. The garden had high strategic priority, facilitating the economic development of Britain’s growing number of overseas possessions by allowing experiments in acclimatization of basic foodstuffs and medicinal plants to be undertaken in the tropics.

Thus, in 1765, about one mile from Kingstown, St Vincent, and close to the extensive Young family estates, Dr George Young commenced an important agricultural and medical science experiment. In contrast to European botanical gardens of the time, the six [Young states twelve] and eventually twenty acres that were allotted were for a nursery to increase the numbers of plants to be distributed on the island and to other islands. Uses of plants for medicinal purposes were fundamental to producing local cures and Young was assigned by Melville to cull information about indigenous medicines from all quarters, including old Caribs and slaves.

Melville also aimed for the procurement of plants and seeds from nearby sources in Honduras, cinnamon from Guadeloupe, and books, medicines, and instruments from the British government. The gardens had a commercial purpose as well, since Dr. Young was permitted to sell plants and garden produce. Young received a liberal salary from the government and was provided with twelve negro slaves to do the work. The control of the Gardens was entrusted to the Secretary at War in London, to whom regular reports were to be transmitted.

George Young worked hard on the Island of St Vincent. He wrote 'For the first two or three years, little else was done, but clearing and fencing in the ground'. He used logwood to fence the garden and divide its plots. He attempted to procure and grow the desired plants listed by the Society, successfully growing safflower, and he made a number of field trips to obtain specimens, including to Dominica, also Guadeloupe in 1770 and Grenada in 1771 to obtain cinnamon plants and seeds. But unfortunately, although he succeeded with these specific plants, it was usually after the deadlines set by the Society, due to the difficulties with travel, etc, and so he was ineligible for the premiums offered, except for cinnamon.

By February 1772 Young had been on other field trips, including to Tobago for the nutmeg plant. He had 'collected and planted a diverse and commercially productive garden' of remarkable beauty, revealing his aesthetic discernment. It was a place of scientific importance, a worthwhile achievement. His experiments aimed not only at medicinal properties but also at averting shortages of basic foodstuffs supplied to hospitals, private estates, and the resident population of the West Indies, by trialling local cultivars of food imported for expatriates and slaves. ‘Native plants that were deemed to have commercial potential were transported to England, for cultivation in Kew Gardens from where specimens were dispatched to other overseas British gardens for acclimatization and intensive cultivation.’

Young took these plants to England himself, towards the end of 1772, when he probably met Joseph Banks, recently returned from his famous voyages of discovery with James Cook. The breadfruit project was newly underway and Young's work was certainly known to Banks, thanks to Valentine Morris, Melville's successor as Governor.

A letter reporting on these gardens and written by Dr George Young was presented to a meeting of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in London in December 1772. A copy of his letter appears in the book 'Memoirs of Agriculture'. At this point I requested, and was fortunate to receive by post from the Society in London, copies of the minutes of various meetings of the Society and the Board of Colonies and Trade. 

Young outlined a long list of plants which he had obtained for the garden and which were successfully growing there. He also mentioned a long list of plants and seeds he planned to take back with him from England for trial in the St Vincent gardens, plus some he would like to obtain if only the Society would lend its influence to the task.

He reported that Melville met all the expenses of the garden during his term as Governor, but after that Young himself had incurred out-of-pocket expenses. Young also paid tribute to contributions made by Mr Adair in London, General Melville and Sir William Young. Dr Young sought the Society’s support in maintaining and properly supporting the Garden: If it is not obtained, I am afraid, it will fall to the ground, after all that has been done. For it is a great chance, whether the surgeon, who may succeed, will have any taste for botany; or whether he will forego his practice among planters and their negroes, to take care of it.

The Society decided to refer the matter to the Board of Colonies and Trade. On 5 January 1773 Young was called before a meeting of that Board, chaired by Dr Johnson, and questioned as to his awareness that he had been elected as a corresponding Member of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. George replied that he had never heard of being a corresponding Member, although he had occasionally received letters from members. He had never heard, until he came to England, of the clause in the rules of the society which excluded members from pecuniary awards and entitled them only to honorary medals. The Committee resolved 'that Mr George Young, not having ever received notice of his being elected a corresponding Member from any Officer of the Society; and not being apprized of the Clause abovementioned; it is of the opinion of the Committee that Mr Young is not to be considered as a corresponding Member of the Society.' The Board of Colonies and Trade further resolved on that day, 5 January 1773, that he was deserving of a Bounty from the Society.

Before the Society was informed of the Board of Colonies and Trade resolutions, at its Committee meeting on the following day the Society decided to award George Young its gold medal rather than a bounty of fifty guineas.

When the Society was informed a week later of the Board's decision, its Committee rejected the notion that George Young was NOT a corresponding member. At its meeting on 17 February 1773 the Society decided that the inscription was to read ‘George Young, MD, Culture of Cinnamon in St Vincents'. No doubt this was a great disappointment to George, who was not recognised for his decade of work and worthwhile achievement at the St Vincent Botanic Gardens.

Young’s presence in London during these deliberations meant that, coincidentally, he was absent from St Vincent during the First Black Carib War (September 1772 to February 1773). His wife and young family may have been back on the Island, because George Young quickly returned there. On 12 May 1773, the Society in London noted a letter received from George Young in St Vincent, declining the honour of being a corresponding Member of the Society.

Having sacrificed his own financial position for almost a decade for the public good, with no future prospect of the burden being lifted, and feeling that he lacked recognition for his work, in 1774 he relinquished his role as director of the garden.

From 1774 onwards, although he had proved himself as a man of intellectual curiosity, George Young now devoted himself to medicine and to the task of managing his 'Mesopotamia' and 'Cummacrabou' plantations on St Vincent, acquired around 1777. However his old passion simmered and he exchanged plants with another keen botanist, General de Bouill, Commander of the French forces in Martinique.

While British attention and troops were diverted by the American War of Independence, the French pounced, and Dr George Young was a member of the Council of St Vincent when it capitulated to the French in June 1779. British forces retreated to nearby St Lucia, where Young was on the army payroll as Physician. Local farmers on St Vincent began encroaching on the garden, growing cotton and tobacco, resulting in the discontinuation of the garden under its original plan. A hurricane in October 1780 wreaked further destruction on Young’s creation.

On 25 December 1783, after the American War ended, the ageing George was put onto half-pay, as was the custom for Army and Naval officers during peace time and he'd left the Army by 1784 to live on his plantations on St Vincent. In 1784 Joseph Banks approved Young’s recommendation that Alexander Anderson, formerly Young's assistant surgeon on St Lucia, become the garden’s new director. 

Anderson, the later-renowned Scottish botanist, was charged with the responsibility of the garden's restoration after ten years of neglect and, unlike Young, was given full financial backing from the British government. In 1785 Saint Vincent Botanic Garden recorded a variety of 348 plants, 31 of these holding commercial interest. Given the difficulties of travel and climate it seems scarcely credible that Anderson achieved all of this in one year, implying that many of the plantings must have been due to the previous work of George Young. But, as an excellent networker, Anderson eventually attracted for himself nearly all the credit for the success of the garden. Both men, as one-time colleagues and keen botanists, would have shared the excitement when Bligh’s ship arrived with the breadfruit seedlings in 1793.

George Young suffered minor damage to his plantations during a vicious rebellion against the British in 1795-96. He is next found in retirement at Hammersmith, near the treasured plants he’d sent from St Vincent to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Aged seventy-six, he died there on 11 March 1803, his age indicating his intelligence and lifestyle choices, since most Europeans living in the Caribbean succumbed early to the excesses of alcohol and tropical diseases. His wife Sarah died at Hammersmith in 1814.

Their granddaughter Maria eventually became the sole heir to George Young's 'Mesopotamia' and 'Cummacrabou' plantations and slave workforce. Years later, Maria's granddaughter Margaret Flockton (my g-g-aunt) inherited George's passion. An international award for scientific botanical artists was established in her name in 2004, honouring her work over many years from 1901 at Sydney's Botanic Gardens. My book 'Margaret Flockton: A Fragrant Memory' was published by Wakefield Press in 2016. George Young's name and achievements should not be forgotten either.

Notes
(1) He is not listed in Munk's Roll of Physicians, or in Venn's Alumni, or in the list of Oxford University graduates. Irene Ferguson, Assistant to University Archivist, checked the University of Edinburgh’s graduates listing from 1705-1866. There was no entry for George as, unfortunately, there are no medical matriculation records before 1762. However she found this particular entry in the Roll of Graduates of the University of Glasgow 1727-1897

(2) Parish Records, Hammersmith, Film X048/003, London Metropolitan Archives give his age at death in March 1803 as 76 years

(3) Drew, Robert, Editor, Commissioned Officers in the Medical Services of the British Army, 1660-1960 (The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, London, 1968), p 29

(4) Website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/48th_(Northamptonshire)_Regiment_of_Foot, accessed 4 Dec 2011

(5) Ibid

(6) Drew, op cit, p 38

(7) Young, George. M.A. 1754, M.D.1764. ‘Practiced Medicine and Surgery several years in the Army’ [Univ. Minute, 2nd February, 1764], Sourced by Irene Ferguson, Assistant to Archivist, University of Edinburgh, from Roll of Graduates of the University of Glasgow 1727-1897

(8) Dossie, Robert, Memoirs of Agriculture and Other Economical Arts, (3 vols, London, 1768-82), Article IX, p 196  and Drew, Robert, Editor, Commissioned Officers in the Medical Services of the British Army, 1660-1960 (The Wellcome Historical Medical Library, London, 1968), p 38

Updated May 2026. Further source notes yet to be added.