Acc.13232
March 2011
National Library of Scotland
Manuscripts Division
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© Trustees of the National Library of Scotland

GB 233 Acc. 13232
Papers of Walter Duncan
1846 – 1959
Fonds
0.24 m (2 boxes)
Walter Duncan (1834-1900) began his career in the office of a Glasgow firm of merchants, Messrs. Playfair, Bryce & Co., possibly in 1855 or early 1856. After a short spell in Demerara working for Playfair, Allan & Co., a merchant company run by Patrick Playfair but not connected in a business way with Playfair, Bryce &
Co., he returned to Glasgow in 1858. At this point Patrick Playfair offered him a prospective partnership to establish a business in Kolkata, India, under the name
Playfair, Duncan & Co.. In 1875 the firm became Duncan Brothers & Co. and
Duncan Brothers & Co., a private limited company, in 1924. In 1948 it was converted into a public company. The partnership of Walter Duncan & Co., of
Glasgow and London, was formed in 1875, linked up with C.A. Goodricke & Co. in 1948 and became a public company, Walter Duncan & Goodricke, Ltd. in
1951.
The fonds consist of six private wet copy letter books, 1864-1892, of Walter
Duncan, tea merchant in Glasgow and Kolkata, with his school copybook, 1846, a printed sermon, 1900, for his funeral, manuscript and typescript notes, c.
1950s, compiled by his grandson Walter Duncan and his great-great grandson James
Wolffe QC, concerning the history of Duncan’s tea, and related correspondence,
1957-1959.
For a history of the company see T.B. Nimmo, The Duncan Group: Being a Short
History of Duncan Brothers & Co. Ltd., Calcutta and Walter Duncan & Goodricke
4.
5.
2.
3.
6.
7.
Ltd. London 1859-1959 , London, 1959.
Presented 2011
1. School copybook of Walter Duncan, Abercorn School, 1846.
Wet copy letter book, 1864-1866
Wet copy letter book, 1866-1869
Wet copy letter book, 1874-1877
Wet copy letter book, 1877-1880
Wet copy letter book, 1881-1885
Wet copy letter book, 1889-1892

8. Sermon preached in Westbourne Church, Glasgow, on November 18
November 1900). th
1900 by the Rev. D.M. Ross, M.A. in memoriam of Walter Duncan (d. 12
9. Manuscript and typescript notes, ca. 1950s, compiled by Walter Duncan’s grandson, Walter Duncan, and his great-great grandson, James Wolffe
QC, concerning the history of Duncan Brothers & Co. Ltd., tea merchants, and extracted from the first five letter books, with a related letter, 9
October 1957.
10. Letter, 24 February 1959, concerning the centenary of Duncan Brothers, with extracts of well-wishers’ messages received by 31 January 1959.