Cecil Audley Sacheverell Yonge was educated at Bedford Grammar School and travelled to Natal, 1879, where he served with the Colonial Volunteers in the Zulu War before taking up farming. In 1886 he secured a seat in the colony's legislature, holding Pietermaritzburg County for the Progressive Party till 1890, when he lost his seat on a dispute over the Constitutional Question. He was subsequently re-elected, though he maintained a stance against the unification of the South African territories. During his time in office, he became an exponent of agricultural and industrial policy; he was responsible for the establishment of trout and salmon ova hatcheries at Lidgetton, Natal. By 1895 he held a position as advocate in the colony's Supreme Court. During the South African War, 1899-1902, he fought as a Captain in the Natal Volunteers.