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William Blamire Young was born on 9 August 1862 at Londesborough, Yorkshire, UK. He was educated at Forest School, Walthamstow, Essex, and studied mathematics at Cambridge University. Young’s parents wished that William would become a minister of the church. To escape these pressures he moved to Australia, where he was appointed mathematics master at Katoomba College, New South Wales, a position he held for eight years.

In 1893, Young returned to England. He attempted to make a living as an artist but with limited success. In 1895, he married Mabel Ellen Sawyer, an accomplished woodcarver. On his return to Australia, Young contributed to The Bulletin and briefly engaged in producing posters with Norman and Lionel Lindsay, and Harry Weston.

In his own practice, Young created large watercolour scenes of Melbourne, his first solo exhibition in Melbourne in 1909. In 1911 he was commissioned to produce new designs for the first Commonwealth of Australia stamps. The Kangaroo and Map stamps were first issued in 1913 and continued to be in use until 1935.