BSG.BS.02183 — Sugar Bag Seal, James Duncan, London

Found on old pasture in Maidstone, Kent. ME14, ?mm.

JA[MES DU]NCAN / SUGAR / REFINER / LONDON // blank

From Paul Cannon, "I would suggest that the name on the seal probably reads JA[MES DU]NCAN. In the mid 1860s James Duncan developed the Clyde Wharf Refinery in Silvertown, London, which became the largest and most profitable sugar refinery in London. In was closed in 1886 when Duncan was forced into bankruptcy by foreign competition James Duncan."

From Grace's Guide To British Industrial History:- "James Duncan (1834-1905) of Duncan, Bell and Scott and the Clyde Wharf Sugar Refinery

1868 James Duncan, sugar refiner, Plaistow-marsh.[1]

1870 Of Lavenham Sugar Factory and Mincing Lane.[2]

1870 Purchase of a properties at Kilmun, Benmore and Bernice by James Duncan, sugar refiner, London, formerly of Greenock.[3]

1873 James Duncan, Sugar Refinery, Victoria Docks.[4]

1905 August 17th. Funeral at Kilmun.[5]"