[1] Duncan was born in 1774 near Dumfries and after two years at the University of St Andrews he took a job in 1790 at Arthur Heywood & Co., a Liverpool banking house.
Tiring of banking, he decided to follow his father into the church and attended both Edinburgh and Glasgow universities.
[2] Duncan was deeply concerned about the poor, and extensive writing about their conditions led him to the importance of saving.
Duncan published a series of articles in the Dumfries and Galloway Courier, extolling the virtues of savings banks and proposing that one should be opened in every parish.
“Dr Duncan had the insight…to see that if the institution was to be of a permanent character it must pay its way.” The Ruthwell was the first savings bank established on commercial principles.
In May 1810 Henry Duncan duly opened the Ruthwell Savings Bank in the Friendly Society's rooms.