[1] In 1890 he was one of the founding members of the Fawcett Association, a trade union of post office sorters, and in 1892 he joined the Labour Party in Islington.
He also edited a "lonely hearts" column entitled Friends in Council in T. P.'s Weekly for fourteen years.
[2] He was successful in a three-cornered contest, unseating the sitting Conservative Member of Parliament, Sir Harry Brittain by 467 votes.
There was a large swing against Labour, and Duggan won the seat by a convincing majority of 12,272 votes.
In July 1943 he died suddenly at the House of Commons while visiting Labour MP Frederick Pethick-Lawrence.