In 1869 he entered into partnership with two colleagues to run a new chemical factory in the town, but soon left to found his own company in St Helens.
During the next decade the family moved to Glasgow, and Duncan became an apprentice soap boiler with Neil Mathieson and Company.
[2] McKechnie was appointed as a foreman at the works, and lived for a short time with the Mathiesons in Heath House, Runcorn.
[5] In 1865 Charles Wigg established the Old Quay Chemical Works in Runcorn with Neil Mathieson as his partner.
Initially they intended to manufacture soap and alkali, but soon changed to copper extraction, and McKechnie joined them as a partner in 1869.
The company had been the largest suppliers of copper sulphate to deal with the wine blight caused by the infestation of French vineyards by the fungus Phylloxera.
[7] Duncan and Agnes McKechnie had a total of eleven children, six boys and five girls, born between 1859 and 1878, three of whom died in infancy.
[11] He died on 7 December 1913 from bladder cancer, and was buried with other members of his family in St Helens Cemetery.