The Young collection consists of the papers of Professor Archibald Young (1873-1939) and of his two sons, Dr Archibald Young (1913-1996) and Dr Stuart Young (1918-1998).
Professor Archibald Young (1873-1939)
Archibald Young was born at 48 Carnarvon Street, Glasgow on 10th November 1873. His father was William Fulton Young, warehouseman. By the time of Archibald’s marriage in 1911, he is designated Retired Merchant. Archibald Young was educated at Glasgow High School and the University of Glasgow. He graduated B.Sc in Natural Science in 1893, and M.B., C.M., with high commendation, in 1895, continuing his studies in Berlin, Breslau and Heidelburg. He acted as Assistant in the Pathology Department, Western Infirmary, with Professor Coats, and in 1898 he became Assistant to Sir William Macewen. During the South African War he acted as Civil Surgeon to No 3 General Hospital at Kroonstad. Young’s observations in South Africa were embodied in his work on the “injuries of Peripheral Nerves.” This was the only independent contribution from a civilian surgeon included in the official surgical report of that war. He was appointed Extra Dispensary Surgeon to the Western Infirmary in 1902 and Dispensary Surgeon in 1905. He became a Fellow of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons in 1913 and in that year was appointed Professor of Surgery at the Anderson College of Medicine. In 1917 he was appointed a Visiting Surgeon to the Western Infirmary. During the First World War he acted as a neurological expert, with the rank of Major, R.A.M.C. (T), at No 4 Scottish General Hospital, and here again he distinguished himself with his work on nerve injuries which were embodied in a paper which he read to the International Congress on Surgery in 1923.
Young was appointed to the Regius Chair of Surgery at the University of Glasgow in 1924. In 1924 he was elected President of the Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society. He was President of the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland in 1927 when the annual meeting was held in Glasgow. He was President of the Royal Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons from 1935-1937.
Young was a pioneer in the operative treatment of fractures, especially in methods of direct fixation of broken bones by means of metal plates. He suffered from poor health and was seldom free from pain and this led him to devote a great deal of his energy to the study of methods of relieving pain and was in this field a recognised authority.
Archibald Young married Anna Stuart in 1911. Anna Stuart’s father, Charles Stuart, deceased by the time of the wedding, had been a soft goods manufacturer. Her mother was Isabella Stuart (Nee Drummond). Archibald and Anna had two sons, Archibald and Stuart, both of whom went into medicine as a career.
Dr Archibald Young (1913-1996)
Archibald Young was educated at the High School of Glasgow and then at St John’s College, Cambridge before returning to Glasgow to complete his medical training. During the Second World War he saw active service with the RAMC in North Africa and Italy. Following the
war he taught anatomy at the University of Glasgow and made a substantial contribution to the study of the placenta.
Dr Stuart Young (1918-1998)
Stuart Young was educated at the High School of Glasgow and at Cambridge and Glasgow Universities. He was a Consultant Surgeon at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow where he remained for the whole of his consultant career and was appointed honorary surgical lecturer to the University of Glasgow. He was active in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and examined for the College in Britain, North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.
