Adam Seymour Dickson Duncan (8 June 1852 – 21 February 1940) was an Indian-born English lawyer and a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er who played in fourteen matches, mainly for

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC), between 1873 and 1879. He was born in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. Duncan was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. Although he played as a batsman in a few school cricket matches, he did not appear in the

Eton v Harrow The Eton v Harrow cricket match is an annual match between public school rivals Eton College and Harrow School. It is the oldest modern sporting rivalry between two schools, one of the longest-running annual sporting fixtures in the world and ...

games. In his first year at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1873 he was picked for trial games, but did not earn a game for the first eleven, although he played in a first-class match ''against'' the Cambridge side for "An England XI", when he scored 19 and 0. Playing for a scratch

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

team against a university side was a frequent ploy used by the university cricket teams in both the 19th and early 20th centuries to give a further trial to a potentially promising player; Duncan went through the same rigmarole two years later in 1875, again selected for "An England XI", but this time with 36 in the only England innings he was the top-scorer (

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

made 24). That led to selection for two Cambridge University matches, but after scoring 33 in his first innings for the university he had a poor second game and was not picked again. His remaining first-class cricket was a series of matches for the MCC, five of them in 1879, and the last of which included his highest first-class score, 42, made against

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. Duncan graduated from Cambridge University with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in 1876; he became a solicitor, practising from

Queen Victoria Street, London Queen Victoria Street, named after the British monarch who reigned from 1837 to 1901, is a street in London that runs east by north from its junction with New Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment in the Castle Baynard ward of the City of Lo ...

. He died in Hatfield,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

on 21 February 1940, aged 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Adam 1852 births 1940 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge British sportspeople in British India English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Non-international England cricketers