The Highly Important Great War and Fall of Hong Kong P.O.W. Group of 11 to Sir Mark Aitchison Young G.C.M.G., the 21st Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong. Governor Young was finally advised by Major-General Christopher Maltby to sign Hong Kong’s surrender and capitulation, going in person to surrender at the Peninsula Hotel on 25 December 1941, a day known locally as ‘Black Christmas’. Young shared in the privations and abuse of his fellow P.O.W.s despite his high position, and returned to Hong Kong after the Japanese surrender to great fanfare. Soon after he made vigorous but ultimately unsuccessful attempts to reform and democratize politics in Hong Kong, devising the ‘Young Plan’ in 1946, comprising: The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St. George, Knight Grand Cross 1st Class Set of Insignia, comprising sash badge in silver-gilt and enamels, and breast star in silver, gilt and enamels, in original fitted case, by Garrard & Co. Ltd.; with collar chain, in silver gilt and enamels, also in original fitted case, by Garrard & Co. Ltd.; The Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knight of Grace set of insignia, comprising neck badge, 53mm width, in silver and enamel, and breast star, 70mm width, in silver and enamel with brooch pin, neck ribbon and alternate uniform ribbon, in case of issue; The Order of St. John, officer’s breast badge, in silver;1914-15 Star (2. Lieut. M. A. Young. Rif. Brig.); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. M. A. Young.); Jubilee Medal 1935; Coronation Medal, 1937; G.C.M.G. and O.S.J. sets separate, campaign group swing mounted on bar with reverse brooch pin, these with matching set of miniatures, medals lightly polished, very fine or better, orders generally extremely fine (11). C.M.G.: London Gazette: 03.06.1931 (Chief Secretary, Palestine); The Order of St. John, Officer: London Gazette: 24.06.1932; K.C.M.G.: London Gazette: 21.06.1940; The Order of St. John, Knight of Grace: London Gazette: 21.06.1940; G.C.M.G.: London Gazette: 01.01.1946 (Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Hong Kong). Sir Mark Aitchison Young, G.C.M.G. (1886-1974), was born on 30 June 1886, the son of Sir William Mackworth Young and Frances Mary Egerton, daughter of Sir Robert Eyles Egerton. His father had served as Resident of Mysore and Coorg, and then as Lieutenant-Governor the Punjab between 1897 and 1902, and both families were counted amongst the most distinguished families in Colonial India. Mark Aitchison Young was educated at Eton College and King’s College, Cambridge, entering the Colonial Office as an ‘Eastern Cadet’ on 4 October 1909, and subsequently taking up a post in the Ceylon Civil Service. He continued to work at the Colonial Secretary’s Office, Colombo, until the outbreak of WWI in August 1914, when he joined the Rifle Brigade, being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 13 June 1915. Serving on the Western Front in France and Flanders, he rose to the rank of Captain before returning to the Civil Service once the Great War had ended. His career continued on an impressive trajectory, first returning to Ceylon as Principal Assistant Colonial Secretary between 1923 and 1928, then serving as Colonial Secretary in Sierra Leone between 1928 and 1930. Between 1930 and 1933 he was Chief Secretary to the Government of the British Mandate of Palestine (for which he was made C.M.G.), later taking up his first Governorship in Barbados between 1933 and 1938, being appointed K.C.M.G. in 1934. He also served as part of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, before serving again as Governor and Commander in Chief of the Tanganyika Territory between 1938 and 1941. Mark Young arrived in Hong Kong on 10 September 1941, and only weeks into his new role began making detailed plans to resist the attacking Japanese forces. Beginning on 8 December, the mainland areas of the New Territories and Kowloon were captured after 5 days of fighting, with Major-General Maltby’s combined British & Indian units of the Mainland Brigade (2nd Bn. Royal Scots; 5th/7th Bn. Rajput Regiment, 2nd/14th Bn. Punjab Regiment) forced back to the more readily-defensible Hong Kong Island. The first call to surrender was made by the Japanese commander Lieutenant-General Taikaishi Sakai on 13 December, but Young rejected it outright, calling upon Hong Kong’s defenders to “Fight On! Hold fast for King and Empire!” On 25 December the South China Morning Post had run the Governor’s Christmas message that very morning, showing still that the Governor had no intention of surrender: “In pride and admiration I send my greetings this Christmas Day to all those who are working so nobly and so well to sustain Hong Kong against the assault of the enemy. God bless you all in this, your finest hour.” At the same time, early that day, civilians, nurses and wounded soldiers were being killed and assaulted at St. Stephen’s College Hospital. Just hours later at 3.00pm, General Maltby was driven to Government House, in the hope of convincing the Governor to surrender, on the advice of his other fellow officers – each one at breaking point, and with water and communications now cut off. Calling a meeting with Maltby, Commander A. C. Collinson R.N., and two members of the civilian Defence Council, Governor Young heeded their advice and took the final decision to call a cease-fire at 3.15pm. Fearing further reprisals and civilian casualties, and under a chronic shortage of water, he gave the colony’s surrender to General Takashi Sakai at the Peninsula Hotel later that day, to the shock of the world, and despite Churchill’s call to fight to the very last. This, the first surrender of a British Crown Colony to invasion, became known as ‘Black Christmas’ in Hong Kong, as it braced itself for what would be a brutal 3 years and 8 months of Japanese rule. Despite his position, after two months incarceration in ‘Room 336’ of the Peninsula Hotel he spent some time in the POW camp in Stanley before being moved with other high-ranking officials (including Maltby) between further camps in Shanghai, Formosa (Taiwan), Japan, on the Mongolian border, and then to Mukden, Manchuria. Governor Young is known to have defended the rights of his fellow POWs on numerous occasions in the face of regular brutality, and shared in their privations and abusive treatment. He also once petitioned his fellow P.O.W.s to resist signing documents that they would never attempt to escape captivity. Various eye-witness P.O.W. accounts recall that Governor Young did not avoid the brutal treatment of his captors, regardless of his high position. Despite his suffering and that of those around him, he survived to see the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, and later took part in a number of war crimes tribunals concerning various Japanese officers and officials. Being much weakened through prolonged captivity, Governor Young was returned to Great Britain for a period of recovery before his official return to Hong Kong on 30 April 1946, where he was greeted by ‘one of the largest crowds ever to have been assembled’ by the waterfront on the Queen’s Pier (as recorded by the China Mail, 1 May 1946). This important and symbolic return to the colony’s British administration was well-received, but marked the final bow of Sir Mark Young’s eventful career. Despite his attempts to reform local politics through the self-titled ‘Young Plan’ of September 1946, which themselves were an attempt to democratise Hong Kong and to strengthen self-government for the long-term, these plans were eventually rejected for fear of communist infiltration and subversion. Governor Young was made G.C.M.G. that year in 1946, but was not otherwise recognised with any honours for his role as Governor of Hong Kong, despite his even handedness, his resilience, and his remarkable strength of character shown under the most trying of circumstances. He retired from the Colonial Office in 1947, and later died on 12 May 1974, at the age of 87.
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