George Duncan (11 March 1791 – 6 January 1878) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

politician.

Life

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

of humble parents, William Duncan and Amelia Guthrie, he attended Dundee Academy, and was then apprenticed to a draper in Edinburgh. He started his own draper and silk mercer business in Dundee, and became very wealthy. His premises was on the High Street. He married, on 18 November 1823, Hester Eliza Wheeler, who was about 11 years his junior and the daughter of an officer in the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

. She died 27 May 1834, aged 32, after a childless marriage. He retired soon after, aged 45, from the drapery business. He became a Director of several companies including the Dundee, Perth and London Shipping Company, and the Forfarshire and Perthshire Fire Insurance Company. He built himself a small mansion, "The Vine", in Magdelene Yard Road, Dundee.Dundee Post Office Directory 1846 George Duncan was elected to the House of Commons in 1841 as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) being the third Member for

after the 1832 Reform Act. He retired from Parliament in 1857 after serving Dundee for 16 years. He died on 6 January 1878 and was buried at

the Howff The Howff is a burial ground in the city of Dundee, Scotland. Established in 1564, it has one of the most important collections of tombstones in Scotland, and is protected as a category A listed building. The majority of graves face exactl ...

, Dundee. The grave lies on the western path.

Family

He married Hester Eliza Wheeler (1802–1834). They had no children.

References

*''Oliver & Boyd's new Edinburgh almanac and national repository for the year 1850''. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh, 1850 *

External links

* 1791 births 1878 deaths People educated at the High School of Dundee Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Dundee constituencies UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 {{Scotland-Liberal-UK-MP-stub