Clan Young Crest badge Motto: Robore Prudentia Præstat[1] (Prudence Excels Strength) War cry: We Ride![1] Profile Region Scottish Borders District Roxburghshire Kincardineshire Angus Plant badge Yew[1] Pipe music All The Blue Bonnetts are o' The Border[1]

Chief Clan Young has no chief, and is an armigerous clan Arms of the last Chief of Clan Young Last Chief: Robert Young of Auldbar Died: 1743[citation needed] Allied clans Clan Kerr[citation needed] Clan Ogilive[citation needed]

The Clan Young was a Scottish border clan or family. It does not have a chief recognised by the Lord Lyon King of Arms therefore the clan has no standing under Scots Law. In 1987, however, Edward A Young III of Florida contacted the Lord Lyon in Scotland and asked to convene a Clan Young society. Permission to do so was granted and the permission to display the arms and crest of Peter Young of Auldbar, the last chief of the name Young. Clan Young is considered an armigerous clan, meaning that it is considered to have had at one time a chief who possessed the chiefly arms, however no one at present is in possession of such arms. The clan society is made up of over 400 member families worldwide located in Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, Scotland, Ireland, the United States, South Africa and New Zealand.^[1]

The clan held lands in East Roxburgh on the Scottish Border with England. Other prominent Youngs, however, held large estates and castles other Lowland areas of Scotland, particulary in the historic Northeast counties or shires of Angus and Kincardine.^[2]

Clan profile [edit]

• Crest: A demi-lion rampant gules with sword in dexter paw proper.
• Motto: Robore Prudentia Praestat. (Prudence excels strength)

The Historic Clan Young [edit]

This section may contain improper references to self-published sources. Please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources, where they are used inappropriately. (September 2012)

Although the name Young was common in other areas, there is nowhere we find a greater concentration of Youngs than in East Roxburgh. They were especially numerous in the Bowmont Valley, south of Yetholm, where they hailed from eight or more estates on both sides of the Bowmont Water. They also held a number of nearby bastle houses, keeps, or peel towers as they were called. These included the structures of Otterburn, Barnhills, Hoselaw, Waterside and Moss Tower. This is the only place in Scotland where the Youngs were gathered in sufficient numbers to be considered a clan. The Youngs may not have been a large clan, but some estimates show they could muster between 200-400 armed men at times.

The first written record of a Young on the Border dates from the year 1335 when Roger Yung, “a Scottish gentleman”, was released by the English from the Tower of Berwick. Moneypenny's Chronicle published in 1597 and 1603 clearly lists the Youngs as one of the Border Clans of Scotland. According to George MacDonald Fraser, in his Steel Bonnets, the Youngs were engaged in blood feuds with the English Border Wardens, such as Sir Robert Carey, as well as the English families of Selby, Heron, Ogle, and Collingwood. In 1596, Carey wrote of his greatest challenge, "This country has become almost slaves to the Scots, and dare do nothing displeasing to them. If the country rise upon them when they are stealing in England, and either kill one by chance, or take him ‘with the bloody hand,’ delivering him to the officer for execution, ‘if they be but foote lownes and men of no esteame amongst them,’ it may pass unrevenged: but if he is of a surname, ‘as Davyson, a Younge, a Burne, a Pringle or Hall or any thei make accompt of,’ then he who killed or took him is sure himself, and all his friends (specially those of his name) is like, ‘dearly to by yt,’ for they will have his life or of 2 or 3 of his nearest kinsmen, in revenge of their friends so killed or taken stealing here. ..."

The chiefs or “chief riders” of the Youngs are first recorded in the Bowmont, probably in Blakedean or Attonburn, but shortly after the Kerrs acquired Cessford Castle in the mid-1400s, the chief family of the Youngs moved to the estate of Otterburn, just east of Cessford Castle. By the first of the 1600s the chief riders of the Youngs had again moved back to the estates in the Bowmont. Their leading men included Roger, George, William and James of Otterburn, Blackhall Jock of Attonburn, Wattye of Cessford (leading raids for the chief of the Kerrs), and Dande of Moss Tower.

In the early 1600s, after the union of Crowns, King James came down hard on the lawless Borderers and many of the clans were scattered. The Youngs of Otterburn, for example, were outlawed in the year 1605. Other leading riders from Barnhills, the Cove and Blakedean were outlawed as well. Many Borderers signed up or were impressed into the King’s service in the Bohemian Wars. Others left for the colonies in Northern Ireland or the Americas. Still more left for the cities such as Glasgow or Edinburgh. The once common name of Young on the Borders slowly began to decline, as did many of the other names. In fact the Borders were depopulated and cleared, much like the Highlands were to be at a later time period. Entire villages disappeared into history and the Bowmont Valley, which at one time was the home of more than 500 inhabitants, dropped to less than 50.^{[3][self-published source?]}

The Clan Today [edit]

The Clan Young society brings together Scottish Youngs and their descendants to celebrate their Scottish and clan heritage, to enjoy the company of other Youngs, to link families through genealogy, history, and a common interest in all things Scottish. Events and gatherings are held worldwide and newsletters are sent out by mail, email, and social networking sites. Branches of the clan society have been set up in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America which all have their own organisational councils and committees.^[1]

Castles [edit]

• Auldbar Castle
• Cleish Castle^{[citation needed]}
• Kelly Castle, Arirlot^{[citation needed]}
• Auchenskeoch Castle^{[citation needed]}

Tartan [edit]

Clan Young claims four tartans: Christina Young, Modern, Weathered and Young in Australia.

• The Christina Young Tartan (STA Ref: 1722) is an Arisaid plaid. It bears the initials CY and the date 1726. Its approximate size is 7 x 17 feet. It was woven using the colors of Wheat, Orange, Yellow, and Purple. These colors were from natural dyes and are muted by the years, so it was a bit brighter in its day. One of the worlds greatest authorities on Highland dress, Mr. John Telfer Dunbar stated in 1939, that this was "the most valuable tartan" he had ever examined. He purchased it in that year from Mary C. Bruce. He referred to it as a "double bar plain", due to the bars around its border. It was a family tartan and its history of use was for "a banqueting cloth, a coverlet for the bridal bed and as a mort cloth for laying out the bodies of the slain."^[1] The Scottish Tartans Society purchased the tartan in 1966 and describes it as one of the oldest and most completely preserved specimens of homespun handlooming.^[4]

• The Young Modern Tartan (STA ref: 2048) was designed by Derek Young, Benderloch, Oban, in 1992. A general blue and green background was used as a base and the multi-colored strip from the Christina Young Tartan was added to it. The thread count is LP2 DY4 O6 LP10 DB30 G30 B6 K6.^[1]

• The Weathered Young Tartan looks different from the Modern one of the same name, however the pattern remains the same. It is only the shade of thread used that belong to a different scheme. Ancient colors are an attempt to approximate the vegetable dyes that were originally used to make tartan cloth. Weathered colors go a step further than ancient colors by also attempting the effect produced by vegetable dyes after they had naturally faded.^[1]

• The Youngs in Australia Tartan (STA ref: 10241) was designed by Robert Young in 2010. This tartan is based on the Christina Young tartan, with the Australian colours of green & gold on a base colour of cream/light/pale yellow to represent the Young Scottish ancestry.^[5]

Youngs through History [edit]

This section may contain improper references to self-published sources. Please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources, where they are used inappropriately. (September 2012)

Although some Youngs originated in England, Ireland, Wales, France and Germany, there is no where in the world with higher concentrations of Youngs than in Scotland. Most estimates state that between one third and one half of all Young families in North America originated in Scotland.

The first Young recorded in history was Wilferd the Young who was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as having died in 744 after being the Bishop of York for the past 30 years. At that time York was a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom which stretched from Humber River in the south, north to the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

By the 1200s, the Youngs were recorded in Scotland where they appear to have risen to positions of prominence. Two brothers, Malmor and Ade, for instance, were appointed as "assizers" (court officials) in Dunbarton in 1271. William Young was recorded as a monk who was the "confessor" to the knights who were garrisoned in Edinburgh Castle in the year 1300. In 1325, John Young was a Laird of Strachan, in Kincardineshire. His son, Alexander, married the daughter of Sir Henry Maule of Panmure. Henry had been knighted by King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. How many years the Youngs were in Scotland before this time is uncertain. Many of the written records of the time period were destroyed during the Scottish War of Independence which raged on and off from the late 1200s to the early 1300s.

One of the earliest documented occurrence of the name was a John Young in Dingwall who witnessed a charter by the Earl of Ross in 1342 and a Symone Yong (sic) was a burgess of Elgin in Moray around the same time. Alexander Young was a chaplain to the House of the Holy Trinity in 1439 and Sir Peter Young (born in Dundee in 1544) was a tutor to the three-year-old King James VI on the recommendation of the Regent Moray. He was a Scottish ambassador to Denmark and a member of the Privy Council. He accompanied the now King James 1 to London in 1605 and was knighted after the Union of the Crowns.

James Young (1811-1883) was a chemist who developed a method of extracting paraffin from shale and coal - earning himself the nickname "Paraffin Young" in the process. James became the wealthiest self made man in Scotland and helped with the finances of David Livingstone's African expeditions.

It should be of interest to know that the Christina Young tartan is the largest and oldest example of tartan to survive the post Culloden banning of tartans that can be identified with a specific surname.

Today it is estimated that the surname Young is the 15th most common surname in all of Scotland. In Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, it is the 13th most common surname, and it is estimated that one out of every 185 residents bears this surname. Edinburgh has the highest concentrations of Youngs of any city in the world and it is closely followed by Glasgow.^{[3][self-published source?]}

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Clan Young United Kingdom
• Clan Young United States
• Clan Young Australia