Francis Duncan

Francis Duncan CB (1836 – 16 November 1888)[1] was a Royal Artillery officer, lawyer, historian and Conservative[2] politician.

He was educated at the University of Aberdeen (honours MA) and entered the Royal Artillery in 1855.

He was an instructor at the School of Gunnery (Royal Military Academy, Woolwich) from 1877 to 1882, becoming lieutenant-colonel in 1881, and received an Honorary DCL from the University of Durham in 1882.

[4] While at Woolwich, Duncan, together with Surgeon-Major Peter Shepherd, a fellow graduate of Aberdeen, established the concept of teaching first aid skills to civilians.

Duncan was a deeply religious man with high humanitarian values, who strongly supported the principle of battlefield ambulance transport.