Philip Bury Duncan

{{short description|British museum curator (1772–1863)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Use British English|date=September 2011}} {{Infobox person | name = Philip Bury Duncan | image = Portrait of P. B. Duncan, A.M (4672257).jpg | alt = | caption = Portrait of P. B. Duncan | birth_date = 1772 | birth_place = [[South Warnborough]], [[Hampshire]], England | death_date = 12 November 1863 (age 91) | death_place = Westfield Lodge, near [[Bath, Somerset]], England | other_names = | known_for = Keeper of the [[Ashmolean Museum]] | father = John Shute DD | relatives = [[John Shute Duncan]] (brother) | education = [[Winchester College]]<br/>[[New College, Oxford]] | employer = [[New College, Oxford]]<br/>[[Ashmolean Museum]] | occupation = [[Museum curator]] }} '''Philip Bury Duncan''' (1772–1863) was Keeper of the [[Ashmolean Museum]] at the [[University of Oxford]].{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

==Life== Philip Duncan was born in 1772 at [[South Warnborough]], [[Hampshire]], England, where his father was rector. He was educated at [[Winchester College]] (where he afterwards founded the ''[[Duncan Prizes]]''), and at [[New College, Oxford|New College]], Oxford, of which he became a Fellow in 1792. He graduated with a B.A. degree in 1794 and an M.A. degree in 1798. Among the school and college friends with whom he continued contact were Archbishop [[William Howley]], Bishop [[Richard Mant]], and [[Sydney Smith]].{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

Duncan was [[called to the bar]] in 1796, and for a few years attended the home and the western circuits. From 1801 until his death, he lived for much of the time at [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] and promoted many local scientific and philanthropic schemes. He was elected president of the [[Bath United Hospital]] in 1841.{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

In 1826, Philip Duncan was made keeper of the [[Ashmolean Museum]], in succession to his elder brother, [[John Shute Duncan]], author of ''Hints to the Bearers of Walking Sticks and Umbrella'', anonymous, 3rd edition 1809; ''Botano Theology'', 1825; and ''Analogies of Organised Beings'', 1831. He increased the Ashmolean zoological collections, and he himself gave many donations. He also presented the [[University of Oxford]] with casts of antique statues and various models. Duncan advocated the claims of physical science and mathematics to a prominent place in Oxford studies. He was instrumental in establishing at Oxford, as well as at Bath, a [[savings bank]] and a society for the suppression of mendacity. He resigned his keepership at the Ashmolean Museum in 1855 and was then given an honorary [[DCL degree]].{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}} His time at the Ashmolean Museum saw significant changes in the [[natural history]] displays, based on "[[natural theology]]", as propounded by [[William Paley]] (1743–1805), the [[Archdeacon of Carlisle]].<ref name="eup">{{cite journal| journal=[[Archives of Natural History]] | volume=27 | issue=3 | pages=369–406 | title=Re-inventing the Ashmolean. Natural history and natural theology at Oxford in the 1820s to 1850s | first1=Arthur | last1=MacGregor | first2=Abigail | last2=Headon | url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/anh.2000.27.3.369 | doi=10.3366/anh.2000.27.3.369 | publisher=The Society for the History of Natural History | date=2000 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Duncan died on 12 November 1863, at Westfield Lodge, his home, near Bath, aged 91. He was unmarried.{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

==Character assessment== He was a man of simple habits and refined tastes. Archbishop Howley said of him and his brother: {{blockquote|I question whether any two men with the same means have ever done the same amount of good.{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}} }}

==Works== He had published in 1836 ''A Catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum'', octavo, and in 1845 had printed at considerable cost a ''Catalogue of the manuscripts bequeathed by Ashmole to the University of Oxford'' (edited by [[W. H. Black]]).{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

Among Duncan's other publications were:{{sfn|Wroth|1888|p=172}}

# ''An Essay on Sculpture'' [1830?], octavo. # ''Reliquiæ Romanæ'' (on Roman antiquities in England and Wales), Oxford, 1836, octavo. # ''Essays on Conversation and Quackery'', 1836, duodecimo. # ''Literary Conglomerate'', Oxford, 1839, octavo. # ''Essays and Miscellanea'', Oxford, 1840, octavo. # ''Motives of Wars'', London, 1844, octavo.

==Legacy== A painting of Philip Bury Shute by William Smith (active 1813–1859) is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum.<ref name="artuk">{{cite web| url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/philip-bury-duncan-142767 | title=Philip Bury Duncan | website=[[ArtUK]] | accessdate=2 November 2024 }}</ref> The [[Magdalen College, Oxford|Magdalen College]] archives include letters from Philip Bury Duncan and his elder brother [[John Shute Duncan]].<ref name="magd">{{cite web| url=https://archive-cat.magd.ox.ac.uk/records/PR30/1/C4/8-Fols.-58-60 | title=Letters from John Shute Duncan (1769–1844) and Philip Bury Duncan (1772–1863), both museum curators and Fellows of New College (Philip was Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum 1826–54), 1824–1835 | work=Archive catalogue | publisher=[[Magdalen College, Oxford]] | location=UK | accessdate=2 November 2024 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Sources== ;Attribution *{{DNB|first=Warwick William |last=Wroth|wstitle=Duncan, Philip Bury |volume=16 |pages=172}}; Endnotes: **Gentlemen's Magazine 1864, 3rd ser. xvi. 122–6 **Catalogue of Oxf. Grad. **British Museum Catalogue

==External links== * {{commons category-inline}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Philip Bury}} [[Category:1772 births]] [[Category:1863 deaths]] [[Category:People from Hampshire]] [[Category:People educated at Winchester College]] [[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]] [[Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford]] [[Category:English curators]] [[Category:English lawyers]] [[Category:Keepers and directors of the Ashmolean Museum]]