A half-length portrait, very slightly to the left, showing Young in his rear-admiral’s uniform, 1833–43; he holds a paper in his left hand, which reads: ‘Return of H.M. Ships and Transports employed on the expedition to Egypt 1801’. He wears the gold medal of the Turkish Order of the Crescent that he was awarded for his services in Egypt; on the sitter’s right, a book lies on a table covered with a red cloth.
William Young entered the Navy on 16 May 1777 as an AB in the ‘Portland’, 50 guns, in the West Indies. He was soon made midshipman. Young spent much of the war in the Caribbean, being promoted to acting lieutenant in the ‘Grafton’, 50 guns, on 5 February 1781 and confirmed in rank on 3 July 1783. Young entered the transport department in December 1794; he was promoted acting commander for his services during the evacuation of Port-au-Prince in 1798. He was involved in the expedition to the Texel, and was principal agent on the Ferrol expedition in 1800. He joined Lord Keith’s flagship, the ‘Foudroyant’ in the Mediterranean on the 17 November that year. He accompanied Abercromby’s army to Egypt in 1801, eventually being invalided home. He was promoted captain on 29 April 1802.

Upon the resumption of hostilities in 1803, Young was employed on a secret mission to Hanover to render escort to the Dukes of Cambridge and of Gloucester. Later that year he was employed by Rear-Admiral James Hawkins Whitshed in Ireland. Following this, Young spent nearly 25 years, October 1805 to February 1830, as inspecting agent for transports on the River Thames. He was made rear-admiral on 10 January 1837 and advanced to vice-admiral on 9 November 1846.