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David Low Duncan

Station Master and Natal Government Railway Employee – Anglo Boer War

- British South Africa Company Medal to Sgt. D.L. Duncan, A.T.
- Queens South Africa Medal to Inspector D. Duncan, Natal Government Railways

David Duncan was born in Cortachy, in the County of Forfarshire, Scotland in about 1867, the son of Thomas Duncan and his wife Jane. Cortachy was part of Cortachy and Clova and the family lived in the Braeminzion district.

David was to retain a very strong link with his Scottish roots right up until he breathed his last.



According to the 1871 Scotland census the family already showed signs of being a large one, not uncommon for Victorian times where large families were the order of the day, especially in a rural environment such as Cortachy where sons would be called upon to help tend the fields or the herd and daughters were put to work around the house at an early age. Not for them the enlightened idea of an advanced education, the rudimentaries were all that was required. In the homestead with 39 year old Tom and 35 year old Jane were sons John (14), James (11), Thomas (6) and David himself (4). Not to let the feminine side down there was also Helen (8), Jane Ann, a babe of 4 months and Tom’s mother Isabel (66).

Ten years later at the time of the 1881 Scotland census Tom had passed away leaving a widowed Jane, now 45, to raise the younger children with the help of Ellen (18). David was the last remaining boy in the house and was a strapping lad of 14. New additions to the family since the last census were in the form of Isabella (8) named after her grandmother, and Agnes (6). The little family were now living near South Road in Kirriemuir. Despite his tender age young David was already apprenticed to a local Chemist, showing perhaps an early bent towards matters of a medical nature.

In 1889 he decided to seek greener pastures and migrate to Natal in South Africa appearing next on our radar on Christmas Eve of that year. This was the day, in the residence of Mr. Ramage of Pietermaritzburg, that he wed Margaret Annie Bennett Bald a 25 year old lass originally from Scotland. David himself was 23 years of age and already in the employ of the Natal Government Railways where he was the Station Master at Waschbank, a small siding close to Dundee in Northern Natal and a centre of the coal mining industry which was then starting to gain prominence. That he was highly thought of by the authorities can be determined by the fact that he was already in a position of responsibility at a reasonably young age.

In 1895 he went to Mashonaland in the then Rhodesia as part of the medical staff attached to the Artillery Troop. Little is known about this tiny outfit but they were known to have been recruited in Natal primarily. Once the uprising there had been suppressed he returned to his wife and occupation with the N.G.R. He was awarded the B.S.A.C. medal for his contribution.

Some four years later the war clouds that had threatened to gather over the peaceful countryside exploded into the Anglo Boer War in October 1899. Boer was pitted against the British and colonists such as David, with very strong links to the “Old Country” threw their lot in with the Imperial forces. Natal was the very first “hot spot” and Duncan was to be no different. Already in the frontline (Waschbank was not very far from both Talana and Elandslaagte) he was initially with the Imperial Military Railways before transferring to the, for him, more familiar Natal Government Railways where, with the Railway Pioneer staff, he supervised the railway traffic working at the front.

For his efforts he was awarded the Queens South Africa Medal to Inspector D. RDuncan.

An old N.G.R. ledger in the Pietermaritzburg Archives reflects that Staff No. 1200 Duncan, D.L. was employed on a salary of £192 per annum. Given the fact that a Station Master was provided with a house and other accoutrements, this was quite a commanding salary and would have allowed him to secure the services of an Indian servant or two to assist with the household chores.

This he duly did and another interesting phase to his life unfolded when he was moved to Charlestown on the Transvaal/ Natal border as Station Master in 1903, not long after the Boer War ended. I say interesting because it is from here, on 7 October 1903 that his Indian servant, one Narayenem, wrote to the Protector of Indian Immigrants as follows,

“Respected Sir

I beg to inform you these few lines about me. That is I came to Mr D.L. Duncan’s house as a house worker the first day they gave me some bread I asked the Mistress my ration she gave me one cup full of rice and nothing with it when I asked her how can I eat the rice without anything with it she gave me some bread and tea. You know very well of the Indian’s food sir how can I work if they giving food like this and also I will have to work in the Sundays too they giving no money for the same if I won’t work any hard work my master giving such a terrible blows and sevier (sic) kicking’s I will have to work all day long except my tea time they leave me for my tea ten or fifteen minutes if I won’t come within that time the mistress taking me into the kitchen beeting (sic) with sticks and kicking’s I am only the boy that working here there is no any kafir boy or girl the mistress is very much ill treating me Sir. So you kindly sell me at anywhere than them if not I am going to hang myself and die as well as the coolies doing in the sugar mill Sir. Don’t think that I am writing lies upon my God these things are true if you would witness I have got numberless here. Anyhow you must try to sell me at anywhere than them if not sure I am going to die Sir.

I inform this before I am going to do the cruel thing as said above.

Hoping to get as far away and early reply.

I remain Sir Your most obedient

No. 97152 Narayanen

N.B. Please excuse me for the trouble which I gave you Sir”

The Protector, on receipt of this impassioned plea, wrote to the Deputy Protector as follows,

“The Indians letter is enclosed. Will you please go over to the Duncan’s place look into the matter, and report same to me. Mr Duncan’s address is 68 North Street, Durban or Charlestown.”

The Protector of Indian Immigrants stated on 17 October that, “I visited Mr Duncan’s on the 16th instant. Mr Duncan says he informed the Secretary of the Trust Board of his intention to move to Charlestown and take the Indian with him and has written down once since going to Charlestown.

I have arranged for Narayana to get contract rations according to his wishes –and have also arranged for him to get 2/- a month extra for overtime work for the present. His duties on Sunday are not heavy. Narayana has studied English at one of the Colleges in India and ran away from home having had a row with his people.

He now feels the change apparently.”

With this the matter seems to have subsided and the master, mistress and servant lived in an uneasy alliance. That was until Naraynan (different spellings of the name litter the correspondence) complained of being ill and made to work. This was the subject of his letter to the Protector in April the following year (1904),

“Respected Sir

I humbly beg to inform you these few lines about me that I am suffering from Chest-pain for two weeks I can’t able to carry any heavy burdens and also I can’t able to wash the clothes and the house. I asked the mistress a pass to go the hospital she said I am paying only to work not to go to the hospital and lie down in there she didn’t take care of my sick she want me only to work you know it that if a man will suffering from Chest-pain how can he work Sir. So I humbly request you to take me to the Doctor and examine me Sir. If you find that I have no sick in my body I will abide by your punishment. Sir I left all my parents and came away here. You are my father and mother here so I led you know this, then that is your will Sir.

I remain Sir, Your most obedient slave, Narayanen.

N.B. Hoping to get an early reply. Please excuse me for the trouble which I give you.”

Again the Deputy Protector was asked to enquire into the matter and he reported back thus on 20 April 1904:

“Protector, this man seems to be in usual health but I have asked Mr Duncan to get him seen by the Doctor. Mr Duncan also intends to exchange the man for some other on the railway if possible Naransamy is educated and can read and write English – He is of no use as a Domestic Servant. His duties are light.”

This seemed to put an end to the matter.

That Duncan was connected cannot be disputed. The legendary General Manager of the Natal Government Railways Sir David Hunter was, at the very least, a nodding acquaintance of his. An original letter which today hangs on the wall of an architects firm in Durban reveals that Hunter wrote to him from his residence, “Colinton” in Ridge Road, Durban on 16 March 1905 thanking him for “your nice little volume of Random Shots which I have perused with great interest” – this a reference to a poem written by Scottish great Robbie Burns, with whom Duncan and Hunter had an affinity.

After a long and interesting life David Duncan passed away at his residence “Duncannie” in North Shepstone, down the South Coast of Natal, on 14 November 1949 at the age of 82 years and 8 months. He was survived by his wife and children, Leighton Sturrock Duncan, Cecil David Duncan, Margaret Annie Smith Carr and Annie Eveline Duncan. His estate, at £4 325, was a large one for the period.

Another morning coffee and another great read, even before news paper, Thankyou Rory...…

Mike