Dr John Janet Kirk Duncanson (usually referred to as J J Kirk Duncanson)

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FRCPE The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

(1846–1913) was a Scottish surgeon and botanist, running the Ear, Nose and Throat section of the

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, or RIE, often (but incorrectly) known as the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, or ERI, was established in 1729 and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest v ...

. The Kirk Duncanson Fellowship for Medical Research is named in his honour. Some documents give his name as John James Kirk Duncanson, but John Janet better explains his use of J J and appears on most official documents. He was a noted amateur botanist which led to his being made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Life

He was born around 1846 near

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

the son of Thomas Duncanson (born 1809) and his wife, Euphemia Faulds. He had two sisters: Helen Frances and Mary. His sister Mary Duncanson married a botanist, Professor Saddler, possibly meeting Saddler through her brother's botanical interests. Kirk was educated at

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

and then the Edinburgh Institution (now known as

Stewart's Melville College Stewart's Melville College (SMC) is an independent day and boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland. Classes are all boys in the 1st to 5th years and co-educational in Sixth (final) year. It has a roll of about 750 pupils. The school is twinned w ...

), originally training to be an engineer. But influenced by his close friend

David Ferrier Sir David Ferrier FRS (13 January 1843 – 19 March 1928) was a pioneering Scottish neurologist and psychologist. Ferrier conducted experiments on the brains of animals such as monkeys and in 1881 became the first scientist to be prosecuted u ...

instead decoded to follow Medicine. His lecturers at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

included

Sir William Turner Sir William Turner (7 January 1832, in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster – 15 February 1916, in Edinburgh) was an English anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916. Life Turner was born in Lancaster ...

. Duncanson graduated in 1868. On graduating, again at Ferrier's encouragement he went to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

for further studies, and from there to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

where he began to specialise in the ear. He returned to Edinburgh and gained his doctorate (MD) in 1871, becoming a Fellow of the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

in 1874. He began working at

and both Benjamin Bell and his son

Joseph Bell Joseph Bell FRCSE (2 December 1837 – 4 October 1911) was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. He is best known as an inspiration for the literary character Sherlock Holm ...

, becoming Principal Surgeon in the Ear Nose and Throat Department (then on Cambridge Street). In 1878 he was elected a Fellow of the

. His proposers were

, Sir

Robert Christison Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, (18 July 1797 – 27 January 1882) was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1838–40 and 1846-8) and as president of the British ...

, Sir

Thomas Richard Fraser Sir Thomas Richard Fraser (5 February 1841 – 4 January 1920) was a British physician and pharmacologist. Together with Alexander Crum Brown he discovered the relationship between physiological activity and chemical constitution of the body. ...

, and William Rutherford. His fellowship appears based on his botanical presentations. In May 1878 he is appointed Acting Surgeon to the 1st Edinburgh Artillery Volunteer Corps. In 1880 he was living at 8 Torphicen Street in Edinburgh's West End. From 1885 he is living at 22 Drumsheugh Gardens, next door to Dr

Byrom Bramwell Sir Byrom Bramwell FRSE FRCPE LLD (18 December 1847 – 27 April 1931) was an eminent British physician and medical author. He was a general physician, but became known for his work in neurology, diseases of the heart and blood, and disorders of ...

.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1885 Ill-health forced him into early retiral. He chose

Gullane Gullane ( or ) is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the ninth century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the twelft ...

for this as he was a keen golfer. He died at

on 12 March 1913.

Family

He married Isabella Baird (b. Airdrie 1853) in 1875. They had no children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncanson, Kirk 1846 births 1913 deaths Scottish surgeons 19th-century Scottish botanists 20th-century Scottish botanists Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People educated at Dollar Academy People educated at Stewart's Melville College