Edward Hilton Young, 1st Baron Kennet of the Dene (1879-1960), was born in London on 20 March 1879. He attended Eton, before studying at University College, London, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the natural sciences tripos, and was president of the Union Society and editor of the Cambridge review . He was called to the bar in 1904, and practised in the King's Bench Division and on the Oxford Circuit. As a result of illness he gave up his legal career to pursue politics and journalism, becoming assistant editor of the Economist, then financial editor of the Morning post, 1910-1914. Hilton Young served in the navy during the First World War, and in 1918 lost his right arm in the attack on the Mole at Zeebrugge. He was M.P. for Norwich, 1915-1923 and 1924-1929, and financial secretary to the Treasury, 1921-1922. He was the British representative at the Hague Conference on International Finance in 1922, and went on financial missions for the British Government to India (1920), Poland (1924), and Iraq (1925 and 1930). In 1926 he left the Liberals to join the Conservative Party, and he was secretary for overseas trade in the National Government and minister of health, 1931-1935. He was created a peer in 1935. Lord Kennet died at Lockeridge, Wiltshire, on 11 July 1960.
Kathleen Young (ne Bruce) was born at Carlton-in-Lindrick, Nottinghamshire, on 27 March 1878. She studied art in Paris under Rodin, before becoming a well-known sculptor. In 1903-1904 she went to Macedonia to carry out relief work, and in 1908 she married Captain Robert Falcon Scott. After his death in 1912 she was granted the rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.B. in recognition of her husband's services. She was responsible for designing the Scott Memorials in Waterloo Place and Portsmouth, and in Christchurch, New Zealand. She married Edward Hilton Young in 1922. Lady Kennet died in London on 25 July 1947.
From the guide to the Edward and Kathleen Young, Lord and Lady Kennet: Papers, 1753-1960, (Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives)
