James Rarity Young

Born 1 Apr 1891 - Died 31 May 1972

Service number: WWI 53886 AWMM
Also known as: —
Armed force / branch: Army AWMM
Last rank: WW1 Chaplain Class IV (Captain)/Military AWMM New Zealand Chaplains Department AWMM
War: World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM

Chaplains officiating at New Zealand Division thanksgiving service after the armistice ending World War I. They are from left - Rev James Alexander Jermyn. Rev Hoani Parata. Rev Charles James Hamilton Dobson. Rev James Rarity Young. William Charles Sadlier (Anglican Bishop of Nelson). Rev Henry Darwin Burton. Rev George Craig Cruikshank. Rev George Trevor Robson. Photograph taken 14 November 1918 by Henry Armytage Sanders. Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association :New Zealand official negatives, World War 1914-1918. Ref: 1/2-013783-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22344472 No Known Copyright Restrictions

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Biographical information

James Rarity Young was born in Victoria, Australia, on 1 April 1891. He was educated at Sydney University, where he gained a blue in athletics. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1911 and a Master of Arts in 1913.

In 1911 Young was appointed New South Wales secretary of the Student Christian Movement, and in 1913 and 1914 he served as its travelling secretary for New Zealand. He was ordained deacon in 1915 and priest in 1916, then served as a curate in the Sydenham parish in Christchurch.

Young was appointed a Chaplain Class IV, with the equivalent rank of captain, in the New Zealand Chaplains Department in April 1917. He embarked aboard the Tofua on 26 April 1917 and served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force until 1919. His father, J. Young of 141 College Street, Palmerston North, was recorded as his next of kin.

His wartime ministry included service with the New Zealand Field Artillery on the Western Front. On 28 October 1918, Young wrote to Vera Holm Turnbull following the death of her brother, 2/2780 Corporal Harold Holm Biss of the 1st Battery. Young described Biss as one of his gunners and a close friend, and gave a detailed account of the circumstances in which he had been wounded by shellfire on 19 October 1918.

Young also recalled a communion service held in the remains of a ruined building. Harold Biss and Horace Sadlier helped arrange old boxes as seats and placed candles in openings around the walls. Young remembered the service as a particularly significant occasion and retained a vivid memory of Biss at its conclusion (Letter to Vera Holm Turnbull, 28 October 1918: MS-1998-35).

Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira holds the typed transcript of Young’s letter as Letter to Vera Holm Turnbull (MS-1998-35). It is available to view digitally through Pou Kanohi New Zealand at War.

Young returned to New Zealand in 1919. On 20 January 1920 he married Helen Patton Leversedge at St Paul’s Church, Papanui, Christchurch. Helen was a teacher and university graduate who had studied French and Latin and taught at Craighead Diocesan School, Waitaki Girls’ High School and Christchurch Girls’ High School. They had five children, three daughters and two sons.

Young became vicar of Heathcote with St Chad’s after the war. In 1923 he and Helen moved to Harihari when he was appointed vicar of Ross and South Westland. Five years later he became vicar of St Mary’s Church, Hawera.

When leaving Hawera in 1932, Young preached on the importance of friendship, mutual support and the responsibility of clergy to care for the sick. He then became vicar of Christ Church, Wanganui, where he served for 14 years. During this period he was appointed Archdeacon of Waitotara.

Young participated actively in the wider life of the Anglican Church. At the General Synod in 1937 he called for a clearer and more purposeful programme of work, criticising prolonged debate that produced few practical results. He urged the Church to establish a definite policy and carry it forward.

Helen Young died at Wanganui in November 1938 following a prolonged illness. She had been active in the Mothers’ Union and the National Council of Women, with a particular interest in the welfare of women and girls.

From 1946 to 1951 Young was vicar of Pahiatua, and from 1951 to 1959 he served at Ohakune. He remained Archdeacon of Waitotara until 1959, having held the position for 27 years. That year he was appointed Archdeacon Emeritus in the Diocese of Wellington and also served as an officiating minister in the dioceses of Nelson and Waiapu.

James Rarity Young died at Nelson on 31 May 1972, aged 81. AWMM

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James Rarity Young