Alfred Young Australian Chemist.
Life of Alfred
Alfred Henry Innes was born 19 January 1880 in Bootle, Lancs., with a deformity of the left arm (family hearsay and later confirmed in medical notes). He attended Merchant Taylors` School, Crosby, Liverpool 1891-5. There were verbal thoughts from family that he had emigrated to Australia, and this has led to quite a trail of discovery. Here I have to thank my second cousin Dr. Bill Hague, who has no connection with the Young family, (being a Bradley relative,) but who lives in Adelaide, and who has really been a huge help with his willingness to spare some of his time to investigate for me, and he has found nearly all of the following information.
The first clue we had to Alfred`s whereabouts was in his father, Thomas Frederic Young`s obituary in 1943 where reference was made to a surviving son in S.Australia. Then on receiving his brother Thomas Lowbridge`s WW1 dossier from the Australian Archives we knew him to have been in Armadale, Melbourne at two addresses, Glassford St. and Malvern Rd. between 1914 and 1916. This is where cousin Bill took up the trail and found him listed in the Victorian Directory in Armadale for the three years 1914-16 as A H Innes-Young (similar to his brother who was Baker-Young). He wasn`t in Victoria in 1913 or 1918. Again, from the information re Thomas Lowbridge, Alfred was in Victoria in 1920 and stayed until 1928. From later notes it transpires he had acquired a PhD in Chemistry from Heidlburg University in Germany and he went on to work for Dunlop Rubber Co. as their chief analytical chemist. This was some time before 1922. He was an original member in 1917 of the RACI. He worked with wool and started an analyst`s practice in Queen St. Melbourne in 1924 and next door was Innes Young Wool Products Ltd. which was set up in 1925. The object of this company was to promote the patent wool cleaning process registered by Alfred in 1925. The directors of this company were Alfred, Frederick Sefton Holt, Herbert Robert Paddle and Philip Rhys-Jones. The capital of the company was £60,000. The company wound up in 1931 but there are no details surrounding this. In 1943 his address was 429 Gilles St. Adelaide, and he seems to remain in Adelaide now for the rest of his life.
It has recently come to light that Alfred Henry Innes was married in 1909 to a Mary Hocking at Hunters Hill, New South Wales.
In 1962 he was admitted to the Home for Incurables, Fisher St. Fullarton in S. Australia, now the Julia Farr Centre and from the register notes on his admittance we know he was 82 years old with two medical problems: Rheumatoid Arthritis and a Left Arm deformity from birth. It states he had been in the Commonwealth for 52 years. His religion was C of E and the nearest relatives given were his sisters Mary J Young and Muriel C Pirie both of Coronation Avenue, Victoria BC, Canada, and a friend Mr F C Millbank, 5 Fourth Avenue, Helmsdale (suburb of Adelaide). He died here on 12 November 1967. There was no Will and he is buried in an unmarked plot with no stone in West Terrace Cemetery. Bill has visited the grave and had also contacted the Funeral Directors. There was clearly little money as it appears the Home had made all the arrangements.
This is another one of those occasions where I feel I would like to have known more about Alfred Henry Innes Young.