George Younghusband

George John Younghusband was born on 9 July 1859, at Dharamshala in India, the eldest son of Major-General John William Younghusband and Clara Jane Shaw, and the elder brother of Francis Younghusband. He was educated at Clifton College and the Royal Military College Sandhurst. In May 1878, after graduating as the Queen's (India) Cadet, he was commissioned, as a second-lieutenant, into the 17th Foot, on probation for the India Staff Corps.[1][2] He fought in the Second Afghan War and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 March 1880, before transferring to the India Staff Corps, in October 1883.[3][4]

After joining the Indian Army he was involved in several conflicts in a short period of time. The 1885 Mahdist War, operations on the North West Frontier in 1886, and in the Third Burmese War.[4] His next promotion came on 1 May 1889, when he was promoted to captain.[5] Six years later, in 1895, he was mentioned in dispatches, while serving as the brigade major for the 4th Brigade, part of the Chitral Relief Force.[4][6] He was further recognized by promotion to brevet major in January 1896.[7] The following year, he was on 22 January 1897 appointed to a staff position as deputy assistant adjutant-general in Sirhind, under the Punjab Command.[8] In 1898 he was appointed as a military observer during the Spanish–American War in the Philippines,[4] and in May that year promoted to substantive major.[9]

Memorial to George Younghusband, St Aidan's Church, Bamburgh

Younghusband's first command came during the Second Boer War, when he was promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel and commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, on 20 January 1900.[10] The battalion comprised the 9th (Yorkshire (Doncaster)), 10th (Sherwood Rangers), 11th (Yorkshire Dragoons) and 12th (South Nottinghamshire Hussars) Companies, all recruited by Yeomanry regiments in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.[11] He left Liverpool with the battalion on board SS Winifredian in late January 1900,[12] arriving in South Africa the following month. While commanding the battalion he was mentioned in dispatches in 1901.[13] The same year he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).[14][15]

Younghusband left the 3rd to command the 26th (Younghusband's Horse) Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry, in December 1901.[16][17] This battalion comprised the newly-raised 119th–122nd Companies.[11] He was again mentioned in dispatches in June the following year.[18] He was wounded, and in late May 1902 left South Africa on the SS Roslin Castle which arrived at Southampton the following month.[19] He relinquished the command of the 26th battalion on 30 August 1902.[20]

After that war he was promoted to colonel in April 1905.[21] He was then involved in the Mohmand expedition of 1908.[4] Then in February 1909, was promoted to temporary brigadier-general while serving on the General Staff.[22] In 1909, he became commander of the Fyzabad Brigade, part of the 8th (Lucknow) Division, and the Derajat Brigade from 1911. The same year he was promoted to major-general.[23] He was still in command, when appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1913.[24]

In the First World War, Younghusband was given command of the 28th Indian Brigade, part of the 10th Indian Division. They were initially deployed to defend the Suez Canal. Until 1916, when the brigade was sent to take part in the defence of Aden. It then moved to Basra to participate in the Mesopotamia Campaign. During the subsequent operation Younghusband was again mentioned in dispatches.[25][26] His last command position was in 1916, as commander of the 7th (Meerut) Division, still in Mesopotamia, but he was forced to relinquish that position due to wounds received.[4]

In March 1917, King George V appointed Younghusband as the Keeper of the Jewel House at the Tower of London.[27] Then in April 1919, the King approved his retirement from the army.[28] He was not entirely finished with the army however and in January 1928, he was appointed the Regimental Colonel of the 10th Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) and of the 5th Battalion, (Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides) 12th Frontier Force Regiment.[29]

His son Brigadier George Edward Younghusband, of the 3rd The King's Own Hussars, served with the 2nd Armoured Division during the Second World War.[30]

George John Younghusband died on 30 September 1944, aged eighty-five, at Crickhowell in Wales.[31]

• The Crown Jewels of England (1919)
• On short leave to Japan (1894)
• Eighteen Hundred Miles on a Burmese Pony
• Forty Years a Soldier (1923)
• Indian Frontier Warfare (1898)
• The Jewel House (1920)
• A Short History of the Tower of London (1926)
• The Philippines and Round About, with some Account of British Interests in these Waters
• Polo in India
• The Queen's Commission
• The Relief of Chitral (1895)
• A Soldier's Memories in Peace and War (1917)
• The Story of the Guides (1908)
• The Tower from Within (1918)
• Exploits of Asaf Khan (introduction)

• Works by George Younghusband at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about George Younghusband at Internet Archive