Name
Captain Alan Duncan
Membership Years
1925
Notes
Captain Alan Duncan was married to Belinda Duncan. His biographical entry in The Letters of Samuel Beckett, 1929–1940 (2009) reads: "Alan George Duncan (1895–1943) was the son of the Dublin art patron Ellen Douglas Duncan, who was a founder of the Dublin Arts Club and The Dublin Civic and Municipal Gallery. Alan Duncan served in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers during World War I until he was invalided out as a result of having been gassed. When he married Belinda Atkinson* in 1924, Lennox Robinson was best man. After 1925 the Duncans lived primarily in Paris; they were friends of the Joyce family and of Thomas McGreevy who was godfather to Alan’s sister, Betty. Duncan introduced George Reavey to Thomas McGreevy. According to Brian Coffey, Alan Duncan’s “only subject” was George Bernard Shaw. When W. B. Yeats made a lecture tour of the US in 1932 Duncan served as secretary. Beckett spent the evening of 7 January 1938 with the Duncans at the Café Zeyer; as the three were returning to the Duncan’s apartment, Beckett was attacked by a stranger and stabbed. The Duncans were very supportive of SB throughout his recovery. By September 1939 the Duncans were living on the western coast of France, and just before the invasion by the Nazis in June 1940, they removed to England. Alan Duncan died in Surrey in 1943."
Birth – Death
1895 – to1943
Nationality
Ireland

Membership Timeline

Member timeline showing activity from 1925 to 1925. See the activities tab for more details.


Addresses