Major General Sir John Duncan, KCB, CMG, CVO, DSO (24 February 1872 – 17 September 1948) was a British Army officer who commanded the Shanghai Defence Force.
[2] He served on the North West Frontier of the British Raj from 1897 to 1898, before taking part in the Second Boer War (1899–1901).
[13] He was promoted to temporary brigadier general in May 1916[14] and appointed commander of the 78th Infantry Brigade, part of the 26th Division, which was serving on the Macedonian front and where Duncan would remain for the rest of the war.
[3] The Shanghai Defence Force was established in January 1927 amidst concerns that British lives and properties were at risk during the unrest in China at the time.
[20] In practice he had to deal with a diplomatic incident when a British military plane made a forced landing on the International Race Course in Jiangwan.