[BITList] Johnnie Moon

Thu Dec 19 07:06:41 GMT 2013

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Duncan,  John  (1794-1881), hand-loom weaver and botanist, was born on 19 December 1794 at Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, the illegitimate son of John Duncan, weaver and soldier, from Drumlithie, and Ann Caird (c.1773-c.1830), also of Drumlithie, who decided to support herself and her child by weaving stockings and harvesting at nearby Stonehaven. Duncan never attended school but rambled in the countryside collecting rushes to make pith wicks for sale. From the age of ten he worked as a herdboy at various farms, where he was often treated harshly. While tending herds in Dunnottar, Duncan began to observe wild plants but illiteracy prevented his learning more. At fifteen, rather than become a ploughman, he chose to be apprenticed to a weaver in his parents' village of Drumlithie, a weaving community where interest in politics engendered skills in literacy. Duncan's master, Charles Pirie, a pugilist, gin smuggler, and owner of an illicit still, was violent and treated Duncan cruelly. Pirie's wife, however, possessed a library and secretly taught Duncan to read. After her unexpected death, Duncan continued his education with the help of others in the village and by trying to make out his Bible after hearing the text read in church. He did not learn to write until he was thirty-four.

Duncan spent his free time looking for plants, especially after reading Culpeper's Herbal from which he learned the herbs needed for medical remedies. By 1814 his apprenticeship had become so intolerable that he ran away and lived with his mother in Stonehaven for two years, earning his keep by weaving. Extreme frugality allowed him to save £1, with which he purchased his own copy of Culpeper, thus stimulating his interest in herbalism, astronomy, and meteorology. In 1816 he moved to Aberdeen to perfect his weaving skills, learning a variety of techniques and mastering every stage of the process.

In 1818 Duncan married Margaret Wise, whom he had met shortly after she had given birth to an illegitimate son. They had two daughters, but separated in 1824 when Duncan discovered his wife's adultery. After this he never mentioned his marriage, even to close friends, and moved from place to place to escape any association with his wife, who pursued him for money. From Aberdeen he went to Auchleven and surrounding places before moving from village to village in the Vale of Alford. He used his weaving skills in a variety of jobs and served in the Aberdeen militia for part of each year until his wife's death some time between 1844 and 1849. From 1852 he settled at Droughsburn.

In 1836 Duncan met Charles Black, gardener to local gentry at Whitehouse, who was to become his most important friend. Black taught Duncan the Linnaean system and together they scoured the surrounding country for plants to make a scientific herbarium. They used George Dickie's list of plants growing within fourteen miles of Aberdeen  (included in H. C. Watson, New Botanist's Guide, vol.2, 1837, 489-97, and later published as Flora Aberdonensis, 1838), but required W. J. Hooker's British Flora (1830), a work too expensive to buy, for identifying their rarities. Drinking, however, gave them access to the book, for they discovered a copy owned by a local innkeeper, to whose deceased son it had been presented when he worked as a gardener.

Duncan took summer harvesting jobs in different parts of Scotland in order to collect more widely. He collected over two-thirds of the British flora and, despite having only a tiny loft area to live in for many years, found space for his specimens. In his later life he cultivated wild plants in his garden at Droughsburn, many of which he used in herbal remedies. Duncan was an active member of the Auchleven Mutual Improvement Class, 1850-52, giving talks on botany, astronomy, weaving, and gardening.

Charles Black's brother James summed up Duncan as 'human protoplasm, man in his least complex form ... a survival of those "rural swains" who lived in idyllic simplicity'  (Jolly, Life, 482). Duncan's old age, however, was far from idyllic; destitution forced him to apply for poor relief in 1874 to supplement the pittance he earned from weaving. His only indulgence had been the purchase of books but even in extreme poverty he never considered selling his library. From 1879, Duncan having been judged a deserving pauper, the parish also paid for his lodging. Deeply humiliated, Duncan kept this secret until the following year. The educationist and phrenologist William Jolly, who had published an account of Duncan in Good Words in 1878, was appalled to discover that Duncan was a pauper. He launched a nationwide appeal and raised £326.

After Duncan began to suffer from heart disease in 1878, his botanical friend James Taylor impressed on him the need to add names and localities to his herbarium sheets while his memory was still intact. Although many specimens had decayed, Duncan presented the remainder to Aberdeen University in 1880. His pleasure in knowing his gift might inspire students to study botany was also reflected in the use of the remaining portion of the money raised for him to found prizes to encourage botanical studies by local schoolchildren. The only request Duncan made for himself was for a decent funeral in Alford. Duncan died at Droughsburn on 9 August 1881 and was buried, shrouded by plants symbolizing his life, on 15 August in Alford churchyard. His grave was marked with a volcanic boulder as Duncan had requested, and also with a granite obelisk recording the donations made by his many admirers.

Duncan was often ridiculed for his appearance, his seeming simplicity, and his pursuit of science. A sartorial oddity, Duncan possessed two tall hats and two best blue suits of his own unusual design and weaving, as well as his work clothes which he wore with Tam o'Shanter bonnets with great tassels on the top. By wearing his trousers rolled up, he preserved the same clothes for fifty years. He was nicknamed Johnnie Moon or the Nogman from his pronunciation of the gnomon, an astronomical instrument he used. Duncan's seemingly strange behaviour was compounded by his shortsightedness, which forced him to crawl along the ground when botanizing. He was unsuccessful in his attempts to remarry after his wife's death and his life was lonely. Considered shy and aloof by many, Duncan occasionally encountered sympathy and formed warm friendships, especially with those who shared his botanical interests. Duncan's devotion to these few friends never overwhelmed his strongly held opinions on the political rights of weavers, his stern Calvinism, nor his support of the Free Church. His dearest friend, Charles Black, loved the poetry of Robert Burns but could never sway Duncan, who thought the poet 'a filthy loon'  (Jolly, Life, 488).

Anne Secord 

Sources  W. Jolly, The life of John Duncan, Scotch weaver and botanist (1883) + W. Jolly, 'John Duncan: the Alford weaver and botanist', Nature, 23 (1880-81), 269-70 + 'John Duncan, the Alford weaver-botanist', Nature, 24 (1881), 6 + Nature, 24 (1881), 361 + 'John Duncan, weaver and botanist', Gardeners' Chronicle, 3rd ser., 84 (1928), 22 + Journal of Botany, British and Foreign, 19 (1881), 287-8
Likenesses  engraving, c.1865-1866, NPG [see illus.] · etching, repro. in Jolly, Life of John Duncan, frontispiece
Wealth at death  under £326: Jolly, Life; Nature

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