Geoffrey Winthrop Young

Geoffrey Winthrop Young (25 October 1876 – 8 September 1958) was a British climber, poet and educator, and author of several notable books on mountaineering.

Young was born in Kensington, the middle son of Sir George Young, 3rd Baronet, a noted classicist and charity commissioner, of Formosa Place at Cookham in Berkshire, where he grew up. His mother, formerly Alice Eacy Kennedy, was the daughter of Dr Evory Kennedy of Belgard Co. Dublin and had previously lived in India as Lady Lawrence, wife of Sir Alexander Lawrence, Bt, nephew to the Viceroy, Lord Lawrence. Widowed when Sir Alexander died in a bridge collapse, Alice returned to England, marrying Sir George in 1871. Winthrop's brother Edward Hilton Young became the 1st Baron Kennet.

Mountaineering Educated at Marlborough, Young began rock climbing shortly before his first term at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Classics and won the Chancellor's Medal for English Verse two years running. While there, Young wrote a humorous college climbing guide called The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity, in part a parody of early alpine guidebooks, in part a useful reference work for those, like him, who were keen to clamber up Cambridge's highest spires. During his time as a student at Cambridge he developed a close life-long friendship with G. M. Trevelyan who was a contemporary at Trinity College.

World War I and injury During the war, Young was at first a correspondent for the liberal Daily News, but later, as a conscientious objector, was active in the FAU, the Friends' Ambulance Unit. Sent to Italy he drove ambulances sometimes in the thick of battle, and as such he received several decorations. On 31 August 1917 on the Isonzo Front during the fight for Monte San Gabriele, an explosion caused injuries requiring the amputation of one of his legs. After the amputation, Young walked sixteen miles in two days to avoid being captured by the Austrians. He continued alpine climbing for a number of years – using a specially designed artificial leg that accepted a number of attachments for snow and rock work – and climbed the Matterhorn in 1928.

At the conclusion of the war in 1918 he married Eleanor Winthrop Young (née Slingsby), who helped him return to climbing after his amputation and often accompanied him on expeditions. Their son Jocelin was born on 25 October 1919, they moved to Cambridge at the end of 1924 and a daughter named Marcia was born on 11 March 1925, she went on to marry Peter Newbolt, the grandson of Sir Henry John Newbolt.

To support himself and his family he worked for the Rockefeller Foundation, and spent much time in Germany, and – having met Kurt Hahn before the War – helped Hahn immigrate to England in 1934. Much of what may be called an outdoor adventure education springs from this connection. The now famous Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme and the International Award scheme comes from this co-operation between Hahn and Young. The Outward Bound movement, after World War II, owes a considerable debt to their friendship.

During World War II, Young was president of the Alpine Club and it was through his efforts that the British Mountaineering Council, the umbrella organisation for climbers in Great Britain, was created in 1945.

Books by G. W. Young The Roof-Climber's Guide to Trinity (1899) Wall and Roof Climbing (1905) Freedom. Poems (1914) From the Trenches: Louvain to the Aisne, the First Record of an Eye-Witness (1914) Mountain Craft (1920) On High Hills: Memories of the Alps (1927) Collected Poems (1936) Mountains with a Difference (1951) The Grace of Forgetting (1953) Snowdon Biography with Sutton & Noyce (1957)