Quick Facts
Biography
Bruce Duncan, MBE (born 28 January 1938) is a retired Anglican priest, chaplain, and academic administrator. From 1995 to 2002, he was the first Principal of Sarum College, an ecumenical theological college in Salisbury, England.
Early life and education
Duncan was born on 28 January 1938 to Andrew Allan Duncan and of Dora Duncan (née Young). He was educated at St Albans School, then an all-boys independent school in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He studied at the University of Leeds, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1960. In 1965, he matriculated into Cuddesdon College, an Anglo-Catholic theological college near Oxford. For the next two years, he studied theology and trained for Holy Orders.
Career
Charity work
Duncan's first career was in the charity sector. In 1959, he founded Children's Relief International (CRI) with Bernard Faithfull-Davies: CRI ran holiday camps for deprived children, and merged into Save the Children in the 1970s. He served as director of CRI from 1960 to 1962. He also founded the Northorpe Hall Trust in 1962, and served as its director from 1962 to 1965. Now known as the "Northorpe Hall Child & Family Trust", it works with "children facing challenges to their emotional well-being and mental health".
Ordained ministry
Duncan was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon on 21 May 1967 by Howard Cruse, Bishop of Knaresborough. He was ordained as a priest on 9 June 1968 by John Moorman, Bishop of Ripon. From 1967 to 1969, he served his curacy at St Bartholomew's Church, Armley, an Anglo-Catholic church in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds. During this time, he was also curate-in-charge of the Church of St Mary of Bethany, Leeds. He then returned to his charity work, once more as Director of Children's Relief International, and also held two short-term posts: he was honorary curate of St Mary the Less, Cambridge from 1969 to 1970, and Chaplain to the Order of the Holy Paraclete in Whitby, Yorkshire, from 1970 to 1971.
In 1971, Duncan moved to the Diocese in Europe and was based at Christ Church, Vienna. From 1971 to 1975, he also served as chaplain to the British ambassadors to Austria, to Hungary, and to Czechoslovakia.
Honours
In the 1993 Queen's Birthday Honours, Duncan was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "for services to the Care of Young People". On 8 November 2004, he was awarded the Cross of St Augustine by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.