Duncan’s ‘A Description of the Island of St Helena containing Observations on its Singular Structure and Formation; and an Account of its Climate, Natural History and Inhabitants’, dated 1st May 1805, was the source for many later histories, including that by Thomas Henry Brooke in 1824. Indeed, Brooke always claimed Duncan’s was the island’s first history, and current historians believe this to be correct.

Francis Duncan joined The East India Company’s service in June 1788 as an army surgeon, serving in India. On his way home from India in 1801 he spent five weeks on St Helena, and this inspired the writing of ‘A Description of the Island of St Helena…’.

[ http://sainthelenaisland.info/historians.htm#francisduncan1805 ]