Francis Mortimer Young
Francis Mortimer Young (1814-1860)
1861 Obituary [1]
MR. FRANCIS MORTIMER YOUNG, the only child of Mr. Francis Young, was born in London, in 1814.
He was educated by the Rev. W. Tate, at Richmond, Yorkshire, where he attained considerable proficiency in mathematics.
In 1831, he became a pupil of Mr. Robert Stephenson, by whom he was first sent for two years to the works at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to obtain a practical knowledge of mechanics, and then was placed at Coventry, on the London and Birmingham Railway, as assistant to Mr. T. L. Gooch, (M. Inst. C. E.).
On the completion of the line, he was appointed one of the Resident Engineers of the Manchester and Leeds, (now the Lancashire and Yorkshire,) Railway, under Messrs. George Stephenson and T. L. Gooch, who were jointly the principal engineers, and he superintended the construction of the difficult works on the Todmorden district. On this section of the line, there were three tunnels, three large viaducts, and two of the largest cast-iron bow-and-string bridges that had, up to that period, been built, besides several heavy rock cuttings and embankments.
In 1843-44, he was engaged in making the preliminary sect,ions and surveys for the Leeds and Bradford Valley Line, for which an Act was obtained, after a severe contest in Parliament, in which Mr. Young took part.
He was then appointed, by Mr. Robert Stephenson, principal Acting Engineer of that line, and afterwards, under Mr. Gooch, of the extension to Colne, to join the East Lancashire Railway. Mr. Young then determined to turn his attention to the construction of general works, for which purpose he entered into partnership with Mr. Bolton, with whom he successfully executed several contracts in the north of England.
Mr. Young became a Member of the Institution, in 1551, but his professional occupations, at so great a distance from London, prevented his taking any active part in the proceedings, He was a man of enlarged and liberal mind, and considerable professional ability, and was always ready and anxious to impart knowledge to others, especially to those associated with him, in carrying out the various works with which he was intrusted.
His death occurred suddenly, in a railway carriage, near Dijon, on the 26th of January, 1860, while returning home from a professional tour in Switzerland. His loss was severely felt by his wife and family, more particularly on account of its suddenness, and the peculiar manner in which it occurred.