Lonsdale Young

Lonsdale Young (b. King William’s Town, 06/09/1882 – d. Durban, 05/01/1934) was an actor and soldier.

Biography

Lonsdale Howard Denoon Young was the son of Heydon Young, who had fought in the Zulu War of 1879, and his wife Isabella Crook. He was born in King William’s Town, but when his father became the postmaster at Umbilo, the family moved to Natal. He enlisted with the South African Light Horse during the South African War and then saw service with French’s Scouts. In 1908 he was a patrolman in Johannesburg and by 1912 he was a detective. During World War I he served in the German South West Africa campaign with the South African Rand 7th Intelligence Unit. Promoted to corporal in May 1915, he was discharged on the demobilisation of this unit In November of that year and then joined the East African Military Labour Bureau, serving with them from March 1917 until March the following year. When he married Maud Maclean in 1933, his profession was given as caterer. He died not long afterwards and is buried in the Stellawood Cemetery in Durban.

Film Credits

Lonsdale Young acted in at least three silent films for African Film Productions, all directed by Joseph Albrecht, namely The Voice of the Water (1918), Copper Mask (1919) and The Man Who Was Afraid (1920). In Copper Mask he plays the man rescued from drowning by Adele Fillis. He was also to act in a serial entitled The Adventures of a Diamond, to be directed by Albrecht, but this project was eventually abandoned.

Sources

S.A. Pictorial, 19 April 1919

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

Parsons, Neil - Black and white bioscope: making movies in Africa 1899 to 1925 (2018)

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2006-09/1157977673

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