Robert Young was born in Belfast and was educated at Belfast Academy and Glasgow University, where he studied mathematics. He assisted Sir Charles Lanyon, County Surveyor of Antrim, on the construction of the Ballymena Railway. He designed the three-arched viaduct in Glendun Valley, County Antrim. In 1849 he moved to Athlone to work on the Midland Great Western Railway, where he designed the bridge that spans the River Shannon. He returned to Belfast to practise as an architect and civil engineer in the 1850s, and his firm was responsible for the design of the Presbyterian Assembly block. In 1907 he was created an Irish Privy Councillor, and in 1909 a Senator of Queen's University, Belfast. He was interested in archaeology and was convinced that there was evidence for Paleolithic habitation in Ireland. He was a talented watercolour arist and had a wide knowledge of traditional Irish music and frequented Feis Ceoil meetings.

Born:	1822
Died:	1917