squadron, it had convoyed General Braddock’s forces, he was transferred to the “Centurion.” Once again in England, he was promoted to be second lieutenant of the “Torbay,” and after three years on the home station he assisted in the attack on the French settlement of Goree, on the African coast, in which he was slightly wounded. He returned to England as first lieutenant of the “Torbay”; and in 1759 was made a commander, and in 1761 a post-captain. His vessel, the “Valiant” (74), was Commodore Keppel’s flag-ship in the expedition against Belle-Ile en Mer in that year, and also in 1762, when it took an important part in the capture of Havana. In 1778, on the recommencement of war with France, Captain Duncan was appointed to the “Suffolk” (74), whence before the close of the year he removed to the “Monarch” (74), one of the Channel Fleet. On the 16th of January 1780, in an action off Cape St Vincent, between a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Langara and the British fleet under Sir George Rodney, Captain Duncan in the “Monarch” was the first to engage the enemy; and in 1782, as captain of the “Blenheim” (90), he took part in Lord Howe’s relief of Gibraltar. From the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, received in 1789, he was gradually promoted until, in 1799, he became admiral of the white. In February 1795 he hoisted his flag as commander-in-chief of the North Sea fleet, appointed to harass the Batavian navy. Towards the end of May 1797, though, in consequence of the widespread mutiny in the British fleet, he had been left with only the “Adamant” (50), besides his own ship the “Venerable” (74), Admiral Duncan proceeded to his usual station off the Texel, where lay at anchor the Dutch squadron of fifteen sail of the line, under the command of Vice-Admiral de Winter. From time to time he caused signals to be made, as if to the main body of a fleet in the offing, a stratagem which probably was the cause of his freedom from molestation until, in the middle of June, reinforcements arrived from England. On the 3rd of October the admiral put into Yarmouth Roads to refit and victual his ships, but, receiving information early on the 9th that the enemy was at sea, he immediately hoisted the signal for giving him chase. On the morning of the 11th de Winter’s fleet, consisting of 4 seventy-fours, 7 sixty-fours, 4 fifty-gun ships, 2 forty-four-gun frigates, and 2 of thirty-two guns, besides smaller vessels, was sighted lying about 9 m. from shore, between the villages of Egmont and Camperdown. The British fleet numbered 7 seventy-fours, 7 sixty-fours, 2 fifties, 2 frigates, with a sloop and several cutters, and was slightly superior in force to that of the Dutch. Shortly after mid-day the British ships, without waiting to form in order, broke through the Dutch line, and an engagement commenced which, after heavy loss on both sides, resulted in the taking by the British of eleven of the enemy’s vessels. When the action ceased the ships were in nine fathoms water, within 5 m. of a lee shore, and there was every sign of an approaching gale. So battered were the prizes that it was found impossible to fit them for future service, and one of them, the “Delft,” sank on her way to England. In recognition of this victory, Admiral Duncan was, on the 21st of October, created Viscount Duncan of Camperdown and baron of Lundie, with an annual pension of £3000 to himself and the two next heirs to his title. The earldom of Camperdown was created for his son Robert (1785–1859) in 1831, and is still in the possession of his descendants. In 1800 Lord Duncan withdrew from naval service. He died on the 4th of August 1804.
See Charnock, Biog. Nav. (1794–1796); Collins, Peerage of England, p. 378 (1812); W. James, Naval History of Great Britain (1822); Yonge, History of the British Navy, vol. i. (1863); Earl of Camperdown, Admiral Duncan (1898), vol. xvi. of the Navy Record Soc. Publications, contains the logs of the ships engaged in the battle of Camperdown.
DUNCAN, PETER MARTIN (1824–1891), English palaeontologist, was born on the 20th of April 1824 at Twickenham, and was educated partly at the local grammar school and partly in Switzerland. Having entered the medical department of King’s College, London, in 1842, he obtained the degree of M.B. (Lond.) in 1846, and then acted for a short time as assistant to a doctor at Rochester. Subsequently he practised at Colchester (1848–1860), and during this period he served for a year as mayor of the city. Returning to London in 1860 he practised for a few years at Blackheath, and then gave his time entirely to scientific research, first in botany, and later in geology and palaeontology. His attention was directed especially to fossil corals, and in 1863 he contributed to the Geological Society of London the first of a series of papers on the fossil corals of the West Indian Islands in which he not only described the species, but discussed their bearings on the physical geography of the Tertiary period. Corals from various parts of the world and from different geological formations were subsequently dealt with by Duncan, and he came to be regarded as a leading authority on these fossils. He prepared also for the Palaeontographical Society (1866–1872) an important work on British fossil corals, as a supplement to the monograph by Henri Milne-Edwards and Jules Haime. He was elected F.R.S. in 1868. In 1870 he was chosen professor of geology at King’s College. He was president of the Geological Society (1876–1877), and in 1881 was awarded the Wollaston medal. In addition to papers on fossil corals, he dealt with some of the living forms, also with the Echinoidea and other groups, recent and fossil. He edited the six volumes of Cassell’s Natural History (1877, &c.). He died at Gunnersbury on the 28th of May 1891.
DUNCAN, THOMAS (1807–1845), Scottish portrait and historical painter, was born at Kinclaven, in Perthshire. He was educated at the Perth Academy, and began the study of the law, but abandoned it for art. Beginning under the instruction of Sir William Allan, he early attained distinction as a delineator of the human figure; and his first pictures established his fame so completely, that at a very early age he was appointed professor of colouring, and afterwards of drawing, in the Trustees’ Academy of Edinburgh. In 1840 he painted one of his finest pictures, “Prince Charles Edward and the Highlanders entering Edinburgh after the Battle of Prestonpans,” which secured his election as an associate of the Royal Academy in 1843. In the same year he produced his picture of “Charles Edward asleep after Culloden, protected by Flora MacDonald,” which, like many other of his works, has been often engraved. In 1844 appeared his “Cupid” and his “Martyrdom of John Brown of Priesthill.” His last work was a portrait of himself, now in the National Gallery in Edinburgh. He particularly excelled in his portraits of ladies and children. He died in Edinburgh on the 25th of May 1845.
DUNCE, a slow or stupid person, one incapable of learning. The word is derived from the name of the great schoolman, John Duns Scotus, whose works on logic, theology and philosophy were accepted text-books in the universities from the 14th century. “Duns” or “Dunsman” was a name early applied by their opponents to the followers of Duns Scotus, the Scotists, and hence was equivalent to one devoted to sophistical distinctions and subtleties. When, in the 16th century, the Scotists obstinately opposed the “new learning,” the term “duns” or “dunce” became, in the mouths of the humanists and reformers, a term of abuse, a synonym for one incapable of scholarship, a dull blockhead.
DUNCKER, MAXIMILIAN WOLFGANG (1811–1886), German historian and politician, eldest son of the publisher Karl Duncker, was born at Berlin on the 15th of October 1811. He studied at the universities of Bonn and Berlin till 1834, was then accused of participation in the students’ societies, which the government was endeavouring to suppress, and was condemned to six years’ imprisonment, afterwards reduced to six months. He had already begun his labours as a historian, but after serving his sentence in 1837, found himself debarred till 1839 from completing his course at Halle, where in 1842 he obtained a professorship. Elected to the National Assembly at Frankfort in 1848, he joined the Right Centre party, and was chosen reporter of the projected constitution. He sat in the Erfurt assembly in 1850, and in the second Prussian chamber from 1849 to 1852. During the crisis in Schleswig and Holstein in 1850 he endeavoured in person to aid the duchies in their struggles. An outspoken opponent of the
