Simon Young
Young in 2012
7th Mayor of Pitcairn Islands
Assumed office
1 January 2023
MonarchCharles III
GovernorIona Thomas
Preceded byCharlene Warren-Peu
Deputy Mayor of Pitcairn
In office
1 January 2010 – 31 December 2013
Personal details
Born1965 (age 58–59)
Pickering, North Yorkshire, England

Simon Young (born 1965)[1] is an English-born Pitcairnese politician. He is currently Mayor of Pitcairn, the first non-native Pitcairn Islander to hold the position. He previously served as Deputy Mayor from 2009 to 2013.

Biography

Originally from Pickering in North Yorkshire, Young served in the Royal Air Force for ten years.[2]

He visited Pitcairn in 1992 and returned permanently in 1999 with his American wife Shirley,[3] becoming the first people with no connection to the island to be naturalised.[4] He is editor of the island newspaper The Pitcairn Miscellany,[3] and the island's conservation officer.[5]

In 2009 Young ran in the elections for Deputy Mayor and was elected in a run-off against Jay Warren by 21 votes to 19, becoming the first non-native to hold the post.[5] He ran for the mayoralty in the 2013 elections, losing by one vote in the third round of voting to Shawn Christian after the two candidates had been tied in the first two rounds.[6] He later served on the Island Council and as the island's magistrate.[7]

In the 2022 mayoral election he was elected mayor by 19 votes to 16, becoming the first non-native to head the island's government.[3][2]

References

  1. ↑ "Pitcairn's Population". Pitcairn Islands Study Centre. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
  2. 1 2 Meet Simon Young, the Pitcairn Islands’ exotic new mayor (from Yorkshire) The Times, 19 November 2022
  3. 1 2 3 How a remote Pacific island named after a Scot has just elected its first non-native leader The Scotsman, 24 November 2022
  4. ↑ Pitcairn…an entire isle in Covid-19 isolation We love Stornoway, 27 April 2020
  5. 1 2 2009 Election Pitcairn News, December 2009
  6. ↑ Dem Tull
  7. ↑ Pitcairn's former mayor guilty of public indecency charges after walking naked through town Stuff, 7 December 2021
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