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Dr Henry Duncan(1774 – 1846), led to the founding of a great banking movement.
If one were looking for a man out of Scotland’s past to serve as an object lesson for her present he wouldn’t be Burns, or even Robert Bruce. He would be someone like Henry Duncan … who typifies the Scots in one of his greatest epochs.
In 1810 Dr Duncan opened the world’s first commercial savings bank, paying interest on its investors’ modest savings.
Of all his skills and interests, geology and science were his passions. He is best remembered by today’s geologists as the man who identified the first fossil footprints in Britain. He presented a paper to the Royal Society in Edinburgh on the discovery of the footprints at Corncockle Quarry, near Lochmaben.
Dr Duncan was minister of the parish church in Ruthwell for nearly 50 years. He became a moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, as well as a leading light in the Disruption of the Church in 1843. He also restored the magnificent Ruthwell Cross in 1818, which arguably is the most discussed mediaeval monuments in the world.
The above extract has been taken from the leaflet:
Savings Banks Museum, Ruthwell, Dr Henry Duncan 1774-1846, The Father of Savings Banks
For the full story of Dr Henry Duncan visit: The Savings Bank Museum in Ruthwell
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