Duncan
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This is the Gaelic personal
name Donnchadh, which appears in Scotland'
s
oldest records. Dunchad was the eleventh Abbot of
Iona and died in 717. Duchad, Abbot of Dunkeld,
was killed in about 965. The two Scottish kings
of this name were equally unfortunate. Duncan
I'
s grandfather had killed off several of
his senior relatives to secure his succession.
But there remained his senior cousin Thorfinn the
Mighty, Earl of Orkney, his uncle Macbeth, and
the most senior of all, Mac Beth'
s wife
Queen Gruoch. With competence Duncan might have
survived, but he provoked his relatives until he
was murdered in 1040 and Mac Beth succeeded to
his realm. Duncan II ought to have fared better
because he was the eldest son of Malcolm Canmore.
But he too was murdered by his relatives in 1094,
and although he had a son it was his junior
half-brothers, the English Queen Margaret'
s
children, who usurped the throne.
By 1367 the name Duncan had
moved to Berwick, Scotland'
s greatest port,
perilously close to the English border. In that
year John Duncan held property in Berwick, while
the mayor, John Duncanson, was very probably his
son.
Considered a sept of Clan
Donnachaidh, the Duncans possessed lands in
Forfarshire including the barony of Lundie and
the estate of Gourdie. Earlier in the same
century Duncan the Fat in Atholl (Donnchadh
Reamhar) fifth in descent from Conan of
Glenerochie, a younger son of Henry, Earl of
Atholl, had given his name to Clann Donnchaidh -
by which title the Robertsons call themselves to
this day. Duncan supported Robert the Bruce, and
his clan fought at Bannockburn. He died in 1355,
succeeded by Robert, from whom the general
surname of Clan Robertson is taken.
Adam, 1st Viscount Duncan
(1731-1804), the Admiral, was the second son of
Alexander Duncan of Lundie in Perthshire. He was
responsible for the defeat of the Dutch navy off
Camperdown in 1797. His son was created Viscount
Duncan of Camperdown. |
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