Andrew Duncan

Andrew Duncan (1834 – 10 December 1880) was Mayor of Christchurch 1869–1870. From a working-class background in Scotland, he emigrated to New Zealand as a young man and became a highly respected member of the Christchurch community. He is remembered for his later work as an immigration agent in Scotland on behalf of the Canterbury Province. Early life Duncan was born in western Scotland in 1834 to the gardener George Duncan (1791–1866) and his wife Christina. The four members of the Duncan family (the parents with Andrew and his younger sister Agnes) came out to New Zealand in 1858, arriving in Lyttelton on 21 September on the Zealandia. Life in New Zealand Duncan recalled in 1873 that in his early days, he was "not ashamed to turn his hand to whatever employment presented itself". He ploughed, sowed and worked in road construction. He regarded the portion of the Great North Road from the Styx River to Chaneys that he had formed as "one of the best in the colony". For some time, he was employed by Christchurch's first mayor William Wilson in his nursery before he set himself up as a nurseryman and seedsman. He had shops in Gloucester Street and later in Cashel Street in the central city of Christchurch, and nurseries in Phillipstown (in Duncan's Road, named after himself, but soon renamed Nursery Road) and later in Ensors Road. He specialised in new or rare plants, and greenhouse stock. Duncan married Isabella after he had been in Canterbury for a few years. His sister Agnes Duncan married William Boag on 17 June 1886. Boag became a wealthy man and the Christchurch suburb of Burnside is named after his residence. Agnes died on 17 September 1923, almost 20 years after Boag.