More about John Croll Duncan

John has no known grave but is remembered on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

John Croll Duncan   CZ/4340   Anson Bn R.N.D.

DUNCAN—Killed in Action, on 26th October., A.B. John Croll Duncan, Royal Naval Division, aged 20 years and 4 months, youngest son of Mr and Mrs Thomas Duncan, 5 Brown Street, Dundee.

Dundee People’s Journal 17th November 1917

John C Duncan was the son of Thomas and Christina Croll Duncan of 5 Brown Street, Dundee and worked as Joiner. In May 1915 he volunteered to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve onboard HMS Unicorn for service in the Royal Naval Division. After initial Naval Training at the Crystal Palace in South London he was sent to Blandford Camp in Dorset for advanced military training. On completion he was drafted to the Anson Battalion and sailed for Gallipoli in October 1915. In November he was wounded in the right hand and evacuated to hospital in Alexandria in Egypt. He was discharged from hospital just before the evacuation from Gallipoli and it was late in January 1916 before he rejoined the Anson. In May the Anson Battalion sailed for France to take part in the campaign on the Western Front. John Duncan was transferred from the Anson to 252 Tunnelling Company and worked with the Royal Engineers Company attached to the RND. He returned to the Anson and took part in the fighting on 13-14 November at Beaucourt in the final battle of the Somme campaign. He was hospitalised in February 1917 with inflammation of connective tissue in his feet and eventually evacuated to a hospital in Glasgow for treatment. After recovery he was granted nine days leave before reporting to Blandford Camp. From there he rejoined the Anson in France in mid July. The Anson Battalion moved to Belgium when the RND was transferred to the front at Ypres in October and took part in the Third Battle there, attempting to reach Passchendaele. John Duncan was listed as killed in action in this attack and his body was not recovered. His name is listed on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Northern France.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie