Sir Frederick William Duke GCIE KCSI (8 December 1863 – 11 June 1924) was a Scottish civil servant of the Indian Civil Service and formulated the Duke Memorandum during the period of constitutional reform in India.
William Duke, who for 50 years was the parish minister of St Vigeans, Forfarshire, and Annie Leonard.
[2][3] He studied at Arbroath High School and then to Wren and Gurney to be coached for the competitive entrance exams for the Indian Civil Service (British India) which he passed.
Duke joined a study group of India Office members and the Round Table Group[8] founded by Lionel George Curtis which had a lot of influence on Indian constitutional reforms,[9] In this capacity he formulated the "Duke Memorandum" in which he devised a practical scheme of reforms relating to how the Indians could implement responsible government by means of dyarchy[10] Duke's long experience in India had lent authority to the Round table reform schemes[11] and his memorandum formed the basis of the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms and the subsequent Government of India Act of 1919.
[13] When Sir Thomas Holderness retired in 1920, Montagu made Duke the Permanent Under-Secretary of State, a position he held until his death in 1924.