Henry Duncan (1774–1846)

Henry Duncan
Born	1774
Died	1846
Nationality	Scottish

Henry Duncan FRSE (8 October 1774 – 12 February 1846) was a Scottish minister, geologist and social reformer. The minister of Ruthwell parish church in Dumfriesshire, he founded the world's first commercial savings bank. He was also an author, publisher and philanthropist.

Duncan was born in 1774 at Lochrutton, Kirkcudbrightshire, where his father, George Duncan, was minister. As a boy he met the poet Robert Burns, who visited Lochrutton Manse. Duncan was educated in Dumfries at the Academy. After studying for two sessions at St. Andrews University he was sent to Liverpool to begin commercial life, and under the patronage of his relative, Dr. Currie, the biographer of Burns, his prospects of success were very fair; but his heart was not in business, and he soon left Liverpool to study at Edinburgh and Glasgow for the ministry of the church of Scotland. At Edinburgh he joined the Speculative Society, and became intimate with Francis Horner and Henry Brougham.

In 1798 he was ordained as minister of the Church of Scotland and became Minister at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire in 1799, where he spent the rest of his life. Duncan from the first was remarkable for the breadth of his views, especially in what concerned the welfare of the people, and the courage and ardour with which he promoted measures not usually thought to be embraced in the minister's rôle. In a time of scarcity he brought Indian corn from Liverpool. At the time when a French invasion was dreaded he raised a company of volunteers, of which he was the captain. He published a series of cheap popular tracts, contributing to the series some that were much prized, afterwards collected under the title The Cottage Fireside. He originated a newspaper, The Dumfries and Galloway Courier, of which he was editor for seven years.

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