author
Andrew Duncan
1744–1828
A tireless Scottish physician and reformer, he helped shape medical teaching in Edinburgh and pushed for kinder, more practical care for people who were poor or mentally ill. His work linked scholarship, public health, and real institutional change.
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About the author
Born near St Andrews in 1744, he studied at the University of St Andrews and then medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Early in his career he served as a surgeon on an East India Company voyage to China before returning to Edinburgh, where he built a reputation as a physician, lecturer, and energetic public-minded organizer.
He is best remembered for combining medicine with reform. He founded Edinburgh's Public Dispensary to care for sick poor patients and became a leading campaigner for better treatment of people with mental illness, helping lay the groundwork for what became the Royal Edinburgh Hospital. He also served as professor at the University of Edinburgh and was a joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Across a long life, he stood out as a practical improver as much as a scholar: someone who wanted medicine to serve the wider community, not just the classroom. He died in 1828, leaving a strong mark on Scottish medical education, public health, and mental health care.