James Duncan (surgeon)

James Duncan FRSE FRCS FRCSE (2 November 1810 – 16 August 1866) was a Scottish surgeon and manufacturing chemist responsible for much of the British supply of chloroform in the mid-19th century.

In 1833 his father’s company moved from Perth to Edinburgh, with premises at 52 North Bridge with the family living at 1 Blenheim Place at the top of Leith Walk.

The company had a shop on North Bridge in the city centre and an office and manufacturing plant at 1 Constitution Street in Leith under the name of Duncan Flockhart & Powell.

From 1847 became the main British manufacturer of chloroform, supplying to surgeons such as Sir James Simpson and dentists such as Francis Brodie Imlach.

The firm expanded, building new premises in London and supplied chloroform to the British Army and the Royal Navy.

He was father to Dr John Duncan FRSE (1839-1899) President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1889-1891 and author of Angioma and Other Papers who inherited his Heriot Row property on his death.