Douglas Young (judge)

Sir John Douglas Young (7 April 1883 – 13 April 1973), was a British judge and Liberal Party politician.

Background

Young was born in Helensburgh, Argyllshire. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he received a BA. In 1912 he married Joyce Macewen Smith of Glasgow. They had two sons. He was knighted in 1935.[1]

Political career
Hendon in Middlesex, 1922

He was Liberal candidate for the Hendon division of Middlesex at the 1922 General Election. He was Liberal candidate for the Southend division of Essex at the 1923 and 1924 General Elections. Southend was a safe Unionist seat which Young nearly gained in 1923;

Southend in Essex, 1922-23
General Election 1923: Southend [2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Rupert Guinness, Viscount Elveden 15,566 50.2 -11.7
Liberal John Douglas Young 15,453 49.8 +11.7
Majority 113 0.4 -23.4
Turnout 69.3 +1.3
Unionist hold Swing -11.7

In 1924, a difficult election for the Liberal party, Southend returned to being a safe Unionist seat;

General Election 1924: Southend [3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Rupert Guinness, Viscount Elveden 23,417 62.5
Liberal John Douglas Young 10,924 29.1
Labour Sydney Alexander Moseley 3,144 8.4 n/a
Majority 12,493 33.4
Turnout 79.3
Unionist hold Swing

He did not contest the Southend by-election in 1927 and instead was Liberal candidate for the 1928 Linlithgowshire by-election. This was a Labour/Unionist marginal that no Liberal had fought in 1924. The party had finished a distant third in 1923, so the seat was not promising. He came third as expected but did poll the highest Liberal vote since 1910;

By-election, Apr 1928: Linlithgowshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Emanuel Shinwell 14,446
Unionist Margaret Henderson Kidd 9,268
Liberal John Douglas Young 5,690
Majority
Turnout

He did not stand for parliament again.[5]

References
  1. ‘YOUNG, Sir (John) Douglas’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 accessed 26 July 2015
  2. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  3. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
  4. The Times, 7 April 1928
  5. British parliamentary election results 1918-1973, Craig, F.W.S.
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