YOUNGER, DAVID REGINALD,
Captain, was born 17 March 1871, and served as an officer in the Duke of
Edinburgh's Edinburgh Artillery. He was then commissioned as a 2nd
Lieutenant into the Gordon Highlanders on 23 December 1893. He took part in
the fighting at Chitral and on the Punjab Frontier in 1895-1897 and 1898,
and was present at the assault and capture of the Dargai Heights in October
1897. For his services in these campaigns he received the Medal and three
clasps, and after his death, in accordance with the regulations approved by
HM King Edward VII on 8 August 1902, he was awarded the Victoria Cross,
which was delivered to his relatives. [London Gazette, 28 September 1900]:
"(The late) David Reginald Younger, Captain, The Gordon Highlanders. In
recognition of the conspicuous bravery displayed by him on the same occasion
(11 July, 1900), would have been recommended to Her Majesty for the Victoria
Cross had he survived". A later notice in the London Gazette of 8 August
1902, reads: "Date of Act of Bravery: 11 July, 1900. This officer, during
the action near Krugersdorp on the 11th July, 1900, volunteered for and took
out the party which successfully dragged a Royal Artillery waggon under
cover of a small kopje, though exposed to a very heavy and accurate fire at
only 850 yards' range. He also accompanied the second party of volunteers
who went out to try and bring in one of the guns. During the afternoon he
was mortally wounded, dying shortly afterwards. His cool and gallant
conduct was the admiration of all who witnessed it, and, had Captain Younger
lived, the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa would have
recommended him for the high award of the Victoria Cross, at the same time
as Captain W E Gordon, of the same regiment".
See his
casualty entry.
