Maj.-Gen. Sir John William Younger, Bt, (1920-2002)
Michael Rhodes
Coldstream Guards, and Commissioner-in-Chief, St John Ambulance
Brigade, died 14 May, 2002, aged 81.
He was born 18 November, 1920, the fourth child, and second son, of
Sir Willian Robert Younger, 2nd Baronet, (1888-1973), of Auchen
Castle, by his first wife, Joan Gwendoline, daughter of the Hon. Louis
Vanden Bempde-Johnstone, and niece of the 2nd Baron Derwent.
John Younger's parents divorced in 1923, and his mother married (ii),
1923, Capt Hubert Lachlan Pelham Burn, of the Gordon Highlanders, who
died in 1927, & (iii), in 1931, Dennis Wheatley, the author.
He was educated at Canford, and the Royal Military College Sandhurst.
He served in the Second World War, in the Middle East (Prisoner of
War) MBE; 2nd Lieutenant Coldstream Guards, 1939; Staff College,
Camberley, 1949; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1959; Commanded 1st Battalion,
Coldstream Guards; AQMG, HQ London District, 1961-3; Colonel, 1963, at
the War Office, 1963-5; NDC New Delhi, 1966; Brigadier, 1967; Deputy
Director, Army Staff Duties, Ministry of Defence, 1967-70; Director of
Quartering (A), Ministry of Defence, 1970-73; Major-General, 1971;
Director, Management and Support of Intelligence, 1973-6.
He was Chairman or Member of various Civil Service Commission and Home
Office Interview Boards.
Deputy Commissioner, St John Ambulance Brigade, London (Prince of
Wales's) District, 1978.
Commissioner-in-Chief, St John Ambulance Brigade, 1980-85.
He succeeded to the baronetcy, 24 May, 1973, his elder brother,
William Anthony, having died without issue, 13 February, 1961.
Sir John was appointed MBE, 1945; CBE, 1969; and KStJ, 1980.
He married firstly, in 1948, Mrs Stella Jane Dodd, (marriage dissolved
1952), daughter of the Rev. John George Lister, by whom he had one
son, and one daughter.
He married secondly, in 1953, Marcella Granito, Princess Pignatelli Di
Belmonte, (who died in 1989), daughter of Professor Avv. Roberto
Scheggi.
He married thirdly, in 1991, Mrs Anne Henrietta Maria St Paul Seely,
(who died in 1996), former wife of (i), James Dugdale Burridge, &
(ii), the actor Timothy Ward Seely, of the Seely Baronets, and the
only daughter of Horace George St Paul Butler.
Sir John is succeeded in the baronetcy by his only son, Julian William
Richard Younger, (b. 10 Feb. 1950), who is married with one son.
The funeral takes place at the Guards Chapel, Birdcage Walk, London,
24 May, 2002, at 12 noon.