A dignitary’s death and funeral, 1893
The illustration accompanies a lengthy article about Young.
The death of Richard Alexander Young (1850-93), Mayor of West Maitland, became the backdrop to an incredibly long and fulsome account in the Maitland Mercury of the man’s life, and the funeral cortege and service that farewelled him. The passing of public figures in the nineteenth century often saw such coverage, sometimes seemingly almost making a saint of the recently departed. Today, such flowery coverage would be thought over the top. It might even invite ridicule.
Richard Young, life and death
Young was only 43 when he died. Maitland born and from privileged middle-class stock, he was a student at Maitland Boys High School and became a leading solicitor in the town. He married Agnes Wolstenholme and into further privilege (Agnes was from a prominent Maitland business family). He went on to fill many community roles in West Maitland. In addition to being an alderman and the Mayor for three years, he was on the board of the Fire Brigade, a member of the Hospital Committee and the board of the Maitland Public School, the President of the West Maitland Volunteer Water Brigade, the Secretary of the Maitland Benevolent Society, a Justice of the Peace and active in the Wesleyan Church.
As Mayor, Young presided over the formal opening of the West Maitland Town Hall in 1890. He was the twelfth person to be the Mayor of West Maitland. In keeping with the attitudes and norms of the times, none were women.
Young’s was an impressive list of commitments to organisations in his own community, but he declined the opportunity to stand for election to the Legislative Assembly. He would have had considerable support had he stood.
Portrait of Richard Young in his mayoral robes
When this portrait was digitised by Maitland Library and shared online, it was listed as ‘identity unknown’. Carmel McDougall saw the photo, compared it to the illustration in the Sydney Mail (see above) and suggested that it is a portrait of Richard Young.
Two days before his death on the night of Sunday, 3 September 1893, Young had attended the funeral of James Wolfe, a prominent local businessman, and on the day of his own demise he had presided over a function at the Town Hall and gone to an evening church service. Back home in Regent St he felt unwell and went to bed early. During the night he expired, quietly and in no apparent pain. He had had rheumatic fever as a young man fourteen years earlier and his heart had been affected. Death at a relatively young age was probably inevitable as a consequence of this affliction.
The Mercury’s appraisal
The Maitland Mercury called Young’s death ‘awfully sudden’. He was, the Mercury said, ‘almost an ideal mayor, urbane, courteous and business-like but conciliatory and tactful’. He was also ‘philanthropic and charitable, and discharged his ceremonial duties gracefully and intelligently’. It will, the paper said, be ‘difficult to replace him’. In High St and at the funeral ‘the trappings and the suits of woe were not meaningless and formal but were outward tokens of an inward grief. All churches, all creeds joined’.
A portion of the Mercury’s report on Young’s death.
The funeral and the memorial
In West Maitland, the flag on the Town Hall was flown at half-mast and the building itself was closed for the day of the funeral as were all the solicitors’ offices in town. Almost every shop in High St had its shutters up or its windows draped in black, and many closed at 1pm for the funeral which began two hours later.
The funeral cortege was perhaps a mile long, led by two mounted troopers and a guard of four cavalrymen who were on the Long Bridge before the vehicles of the bishops and clergy at the rear had left Steam St, next to the railway line at the southern end of Regent St. More than 300 vehicles strong and with many organisations represented, the procession headed up Regent St and along High St to the Wesleyan Church. A substantial crowd lined the route. In the church the pews, the communion rails and the supports of the oak coffin were draped in black, and many local organisations sent wreaths.
The Rev JE Carruthers’ eulogy was quoted at length in the Mercury, and the service was described as ‘the largest and most affecting held in Maitland’. It was an elaborate, even spectacular affair. Clearly, Richard Young had made a positive mark on the community, and he was to be farewelled in style.
Excerpt from the lengthy article describing the funeral in the Maitland Mercury, 7 September 1893, p7.
The Ionic ‘red-brick folly’ to Richard Young, which was erected in Maitland Park, was funded by a public subscription. A large crowd attended the dedication of the memorial, conducted by Henry Crothers, who was Young’s mayoral successor. The Maitland Mercury published a lengthy description of the monument and of the dedication ceremony.
Excerpt from the Maitland Mercury article.
The monument is perhaps the grandest memorial of the several in Maitland Park - the result, perhaps, of its subject dying at a young age and at the peak of his power, influence and fame. Death at a great age does not usually command the same attention because the person’s major contributions date from long ago and have either been forgotten or are not well known to following generations. Moreover, many of the deceased’s contemporaries are likely to have passed on.
The memorial to Richard Young in Maitland Park, fashioned from local bricks and Ravensfield sandstone.
References
Keys, Chas, ‘Our past: life and death of loved mayor Richard Young’, Maitland Mercury, 9 June 2023.
Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser
