John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar

John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar (31 August 1807 – 6 October 1876), known from 1848 to 1870 as Sir John Young, 2nd Baronet, was a British diplomat and politician who served as the second governor general of Canada from 1869 to 1872. He previously served as the 12th governor of New South Wales, from 1861 to 1867, and as Chief Secretary for Ireland, from 1853 to 1855.

Biography Young was born into an Anglo-Irish family in Bombay, India, eldest son of Sir William Young, 1st Baronet of Bailieborough Castle, who was a director of the East India Company. He was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating in 1829 and was called to the bar in 1834. He married Adelaide Annabella Tuite Dalton in 1835.

In 1831 he became a Member of Parliament (MP), as the member for Cavan in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, a position he held for 24 years. A Conservative, in 1841 Young was a Lord of the Treasury for Sir Robert Peel, Secretary of the Treasury in 1844. Young stayed loyal to Peel when the party split over the repeal of the Corn Laws. He became a Peelite and was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1852 to 1855. Young was appointed Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands in 1855. His secret despatches recommending that the islands become a British colony were leaked, leading to his recall in 1859.

He died on 6 October 1876 at Lisgar House (also known as Castle House), near Bailieborough in County Cavan, Ireland, survived by his wife.

Legacy Lisgar Collegiate Institute on Lisgar Street in Ottawa takes its name from Lord Lisgar. A likeness of Lord Lisgar is prominently displayed in the school's library. Lisgar Street in Toronto and Lisgar Avenue in Saskatoon takes its name from Lord Lisgar. In Mississauga, Ontario, a community in the Meadowvale neighbourhood has been called Lisgar. In the fall of 2007, a new Lisgar GO Station was opened on the Milton GO train line, and a Lisgar Middle School in the neighbourhood within the Peel District School Board. The Sir John Young Hotel in Sydney, Australia, is named after the baron Sir John Young Crescent, Woolloomooloo, Australia, is named after the baron The town of Young, NSW, was named after the baron. The lake in Tillsonburg, Ontario, was named after the Baron: Lake Lisgar.

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