Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet



Sir George Yonge, 5th Baronet, KCB, PC (1731 – 25 September 1812) was a British Secretary at War (1782–1783 and 1783–1794) and the namesake of Yonge Street, a principal road in Toronto, Canada, which was named in 1793 by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe. He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1755 and it became extinct on his death.

Yonge was born in Colyton, Devon, in 1731 (other sources gives 1732 ) to Sir William Yonge, 4th Baronet (1693–1751) and his second wife Ann Howard, one of several siblings: Anna, Amelia, Juliana, Sophia, Howard, Louisa, and Charlotte Yonge.

He also had a stepbrother, Walter Yonge from his father's first wife Marry Heathcote. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Leipzig. He married Elizabeth Bourchier Clieve in 1765 and had no issue.

He also served as Member of Parliament for Honiton from 1754 to 1761 and again from 1763 to 1796. He was elevated to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1782. He acted as Governor of the Cape Colony for a short period from 1799 to 1801.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1784 and invested as a Knight of the Bath in 1788.

Legacy
He was an expert on Roman roads and his name now lives on in the form of Yonge Street, the main arterial road in Toronto. It was built between 1795 and 1796 from Eglinton Avenue to Lake Simcoe. Later the road was extended south to Bloor Street and still later, south to Lake Ontario.

Yonge Mills Road and Townline Road Escott Yonge in Front of Yonge Township in Mallorytown, Ontario are named for him as well.

Death
He died on 25 September 1812 in Hampton Court.