February 2025 Meeting
Thursday 20th Feb, 7:30pm, Abbey Church Halls.
Annual General Meeting followed by :
“Henry Duncan”, by Prof. Charles Munn
Henry Duncan created a world-wide movement which has helped millions of people throughout the world, and continues to do so. Yet his name is almost completely absent from the pages of our history books. He is best remembered as the father of the Savings Bank Movement, but he was a man of many parts – social reformer, anti-slavery campaigner, geologist and newspaper founder. His pen was never still. He wrote poetry, novels, pamphlets and religious books. He was a Freemason, a friendly society president, an artist, a landscape gardener and a military volunteer. He managed all of this in addition to his role as a parish minister in a small rural parish in southwest Scotland.
This talk will look at many aspects of his life, including his attempt to move the University of St Andrew’s to Dumfries and his prominent role in the Disruption of 1843.