Young, Jess (or Jesse)   (1852 - 1909)

Born in England in May 1852; died on 8 October 1909 in Perth, WA.

He was the son of Richard Young. M.P.D.L., at one time senior Sheriff of London and Middlesex.
He was educated at St. Andrew's and at Christ College, Cambridge, England.

In 1869 he went to India with letters of introduction to the Governor General from the Speaker of the House of Commons, with a view of joining the Royal Bengal Marine. He was on Lord Mayo's escort when that nobleman was stabbed in the Andaman Islands.

Jess Young arrived in South Australia in 1874.

He was, in his own words, an "observer and naturalist" and "astronomer" in the party on the explorer Ernest Giles's fourth expedition.

Young accompanied Giles on the expedition in 1875 across western Australia, which left Beltana, S.A., on 6 May and arrived in Perth, WA., on 13 November.

Giles in his notable book Australia Twice Traversed; The Romance of Exploration (1889) mentions Young several times and on p. 131 refers to 'Mr Jess Young, a young friend of Sir Thomas Elder, lately arrived from England'.

Giles assessed his colleagues somewhat unkindly thus:

"The officers, Mr. Tietkens and Mr. Young, except for occasional outbursts of temper, and all the other members of the expedition, acted in every way so as to give me satisfaction; and when I say that the personnel of the expedition behaved as well as the camels, I cannot formulate greater praise".

[This entry was extensively modified following the publication by Alan Rix in 2025 of his longer paper: "Jess Young" and "J. E. Young": 19th and 20th century expedition collectors.]

Sources: Extracted from:
Hall, N. (1978) Botanists of the eucalypts. CSIRO, Melbourne
George, A.S. (2009) Australian Botanist's Companion, Four Gables Press, WA, p.610
Alan Rix (2025) "Jess Young" and "J. E. Young": 19th and 20th century expedition collectors,
ASBS Newsletter No.203, Dec. 2025.
Young, J. (1878). 'Recent Journey of Exploration across the Continent of Australia -
Its Deserts, Native Races, and Natural History', in
Journal of the American Geographical Society of New York, Vol.X, 1878, pp. 116-141.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/213600537/jesse-young
Kalgoorlie Western Argus 12 October 1909, page 31, 'THE DEATH OF MR JESSE YOUNG',
https://www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com/jesse-young-a-life-well-lived-3/
Portrait Photo: 1875, Photo SLWA, www.outbackfamilyhistoryblog.com/jesse-young-a-life-well-lived-3

Collecting localities for 'Young, J.' (filtered by name and year 1875) from AVH (2025)

Data from 134 specimens