Richard Young was born September 7, 1843 at South Park, South Lincolnshire, England. He was made a deacon in 1868 and priested the following year in Coventry. Shortly afterwards he was appointed organizing secretary for the Church Missionary Society in Yorkshire. He came to Canada to the mission of St Andrew’s near Winnipeg. Apart from his parochial duties he was assistant secretary of the C.M.S. in Rupert’s Land.
In 1884 he visited the the various stations through Athabasca. Later that year, the Athabasca diocese was subdivided with incumbent Bishop Bompas choosing to become Bishop of the new Diocese of Mackenzie River and Richard Young appointed to become the second Bishop of Athabasca. He was consecrated October 18, 1884 in Winnipeg by Robert Machray, Bishop of Rupert’s Land.
After spending some time in England, the Bishop was at first based at Fort Vermillion, then Fort Chipewyan. The Synod of 1891 religned the southern boundary of the diocese to include Athabasca Landing which became the seat of the see. In the diocese the clerical staff ministered to mostly either employees of the Hudson’s Bay Co or to Indians.
In 1903 he resigned as bishop and returned to England where he lived until his death July 12, 1905.