Charles Young (officer of arms)

Sir Charles George Young (1795–1869) was an English officer of arms. He served in the heraldic office of Garter King of Arms, the senior member of the College of Arms in England, from 1842 until his death in 1869.

Born on 6 April 1795, he was the son of Jonathan Young, a physician who practised in Lambeth. He was educated at Charterhouse School, where he was a contemporary of Connop Thirlwall, George Grote, and Henry and William Havelock. His mother, Mary Waring, was an illegitimate daughter of Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk, and so he was educated under the sponsorship of the Howard family.

In 1813 he entered the College of Arms as Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, and became York Herald in 1820. Two years later he was appointed to the registrarship of the college. His appointment, on 6 August 1842, as Garter principal king-of-arms, in succession to Sir William Woods, and in conformity with custom he was knighted (28 August). His cousin Edward Howard Howard-Gibbon succeeded him in his old post.

While still York Herald he was employed as secretary to the missions for investing the kings of Denmark, Portugal, and France with the blue riband of the Order of the Garter in 1822, 1823, and 1825. In his capacity as Garter King he was sent as joint-commissioner to invest the king of Saxony in 1842, the sultan of Turkey in 1856, the king of Portugal in 1858, the king of Denmark in 1865, and the king of the Belgians in 1866. His last public employment was that of joint-commissioner to Vienna in 1867 to confer the insignia of the Garter on the emperor of Austria.

Young was elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries on 21 March 1822, and was created D.C.L. by the University of Oxford on 28 June 1854. He died at his house in Prince's Terrace, Hyde Park, on 31 August 1869.

...
Wikipedia