From a working-class background in Scotland, he emigrated to New Zealand as a young man and became a highly respected member of the Christchurch community.

The four members of the Duncan family (the parents with Andrew and his younger sister Agnes) came out to New Zealand in 1858, arriving in Lyttelton on 21 September on the Zealandia.

[1] Duncan recalled in 1873 that in his early days, he was "not ashamed to turn his hand to whatever employment presented itself".

He regarded the portion of the Great North Road from the Styx River to Chaneys that he had formed as "one of the best in the colony".

For some time, he was employed by Christchurch's first mayor William Wilson in his nursery before he set himself up as a nurseryman and seedsman.

[14][15] The councillors visited the Duncans at their home on 20 December 1870, the day before the next mayoral election.

[17] Indeed, when Duncan was urged by many quarters to stand for the 1875–1876 election in the City of Christchurch electorate, he declined.

The Canterbury Superintendent, William Rolleston, wrote to Premier Julius Vogel in May 1873 that his province's interests were not sufficiently looked after.

His strategy was to stress the class system back home, where one depended on their feudal lord and had no real future.

In nine days, he interviewed 900 perspective emigrants and chose 190 to be sent out on the ship Canterbury, bringing 'as fine a lot of Scotch girls [as] have ever come to Canterbury ... good, robust, healthy and comely lasses, intelligent and educated'.

He was a member of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and chaired this organisation at the time of his death.

[3][23] St Andrew's Church was relocated from its original site to Rangi Ruru Girls' School in 1986.

John Anderson's oldest daughter, Jean, was married to Elmslie in 1881, with the reception at their house Inveresk.

[25][26] Although Canterbury was an Anglican settlement, the first three mayors were all Presbyterian Scotsmen—William Wilson in 1868, followed by Anderson in 1869 and Duncan in 1870.

What was thought of as bronchitis was diagnosed as heart disease, and his doctor recommended a trip to Australia.

[5][27] He was buried at Addington Cemetery on Monday, 13 December 1880, in one of the largest funeral processions that Christchurch had witnessed for some years.