William Jolly Duncan, 1894-1960

Abstract William Jolly Duncan was born on 26 April 1894 at Hillhead, Glasgow. He was the son of Robert Duncan, Senior Partner of Ross & Duncan, Marine Engineers and Boilermakers, Whitefield Works, Govan, Glasgow, who died in 1924. His mother, Mary Anne Jolly, was a daughter of William Jolly, H.M.I. He had two sisters, both younger than himself. He was married in September 1936 to Enid Meyler Baker, daughter of G.S. Baker, O.B.E., D.Sc., M.I.N.A., who was for many years the Superintendent of the William Froude Laboratory, National Physical Laboratory. There were four children of the marriage, all daughters. Duncan died on 9 December 1960, some little time after undergoing a severe operation, from which he appeared to be recovering, but then suffered a fatal relapse. Duncan was very reserved and seldom spoke about his own life, and particularly about his early years and the influences which led him to a scientific career. Even his wife was not at all well informed on these matters, and Duncan’s early history and personal feelings would have remained largely a blank had it not been for the fortunate fact that he left a fairly full account of the first half of his life, an account which came to light amongst his papers after his death and the existence of which was not known, even to Mrs Duncan, until then. The account of Duncan’s earlier years which follows is very largely a transcript of his own words. The chief formative influence during his early childhood, in relation to his scientific career, was his father, who was a graduate in engineering and had himself been much influenced by the Thomson family, having sat under Professors William and James Thomson and enjoyed close friendship with James Thomson Jr, the son of Professor James Thomson.