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Robert Young (1657-1700) was an English forger who, in 1692, fabricated a plot by John Churchill, Cornbury, James Cecil, 5th Earl of Salisbury, William Sancroft, and Thomas Sprat to restore King James II of England to the throne.
Biography[]
Robert Young was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England in 1657, and he was educated in Ireland. He forged certificates of his learning and moral character in order to obtain a curacy at Tallogh in Ireland in 1680 and thereafter at Castlereagh. He became a renowned forget and cheat, using bogus requests for references on household help to obtain signatures of men of note. He was jailed for various infractions including bigamy, perjury, and fraud. While imprisoned in 1692, he hoped to make money by forging a conspiracy by prominent courtiers, including John Churchill, to restore King James II of England to the throne. In 1693, he was sentenced to be thrice set in the pillory after his co-conspirator Stephen Blackhead turned King's evidence, but he escaped prison in 1698 and became a coiner. In 1700, he was arrested and executed at Tyburn after confessing to forging the plot against the Bishop of Rochester.