Robert Young was born in Belfast, Ireland on 22 February 1822 and was articled to Charles Lanyon (1813-1889), the county surveyor for Antrim. He later worked as Lanyon's assistant in the building of the Belfast-Antrim section of the Belfast & Ballymena Railway. After working as an assistant to William Dargan (1799-1867), engineer on the Midland Great Western Railway, in Athlone, Young returned to Belfast in 1852 and established his own independent architectural and civil engineering practice. In 1866 or 1867 he took one of his pupils, John Mackenzie (1844-1917), into partnership, at which point the firm became Young & Mackenzie. The practice was subsequently one of the most successful architectural and civil engineering firms in Belfast. In 1880, Young's son, Robert Magill Young (1851-1925) became a partner in the practice, and following the death of his father and Mackenzie in 1917, took over the running of the business, together with his son, James Reid Young (1884-1967).
Robert Young was elected a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (RSAI) in 1869. He was also a member of the Belfast Architectural Association and was its President in 1873. He lived in Belfast throughout his career as an architect and died at his home, Rathvarna in Belfast on 21 January 1917
For a list of architectural projects by Robert Young from 1852 to 1975 see the Dictionary of British Architects 1720-1940
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Harron, Paul. Architects of Ulster: Young & MacKenzie – A Transformational Provincial Practice 1850-1960. Belfast Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, 2016. [ISBN 9780900457807]