John Young, 1st Baron Lisgar was born on August 31, 1807, in Bombay, India, where his father Sir William Young (1773-1848), 1st Baronet of Bailieborough Castle, was a director of the East India Company.

He was a British diplomat and politician. He was educated at Eton and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating in 1829 (B.A.). In 1834, he was called to the bar of Lincoln’s Inn but never practised law. In 1831, he became a Member of Parliament for the county of Cavan in the House of Commons of the UK, a position he held for 24 years. He served as Secretary of the Treasury in 1844 and Chief Secretary for Ireland (1852-1855). In 1860, he was appointed Governor of New South Wales (1861-1867). He also served as Governor-General of Canada and Governor of Prince Edward Island (1869–1872). He returned to Ireland and was raised to the peerage as Baron Lisgar, of Lisgar and Bailieborough, in the County of Cavan in 1870.

In 1835, he married Adelaide Annabelle Tuite Dalton (1821–1895). He died on October 6, 1876, in Bailieborough, Ireland.