The Chairman and members of the Society were saddened to learn of the sudden death, in late March 2023, of our President, Mr Duncan Harrington FSG, FSA, LHG, DipGen.
Neither Duncan nor his wife Rhona enjoyed the best of health in recent years and much sympathy is felt for her and for his children, Rachael and James. Our thoughts are also with all those who knew him well and benefited from his vast knowledge and experience in family research.
Duncan was a member of the small, enthusiastic group which founded the Society in 1974 and he immediately took on the role of projects co-ordinator. His energy was matched by his far-sightedness as he was soon guiding a long-term programme of recording monumental inscriptions in churchyards around eastern Kent and seeing the results through to publication. By the late 1970s and early 1980s he and his project team were recording, transcribing and publishing a variety of records - including parish registers - in microfiche form and making these inexpensive transcripts available to the entire KFHS membership via postal deliveries. Duncan was well ahead of his time, establishing the Society as one of the front-runners in creating a continuing supply of records for its rapidly growing membership.
When the Kent FHS and the Institute of Heraldic & Genealogical Studies jointly accepted an invitation to host the Federation of Family History Societies’ half-yearly Conference at Canterbury in 1984, Duncan and his late first wife, Sue, became willingly involved. Sue headed the organising committee planning the weekend’s activities and accommodation, while Duncan decided the banquet at Allington Castle should take the form of a spectacular “Wayzgoose” – the term used for an old-fashioned printers’ celebration, reflecting Duncan’s recent acquisition of a huge, ancient printing press, which he soon learnt to master. The entire conference was a resounding success and reflected highly on our Society and because the programme and venue proved so popular, the original maximum of 150 had to be extended to 250, increasing an already heavy workload. This event put the KFHS firmly on the map.
Having served as a Vice President for some years, Duncan was elected President of the Kent FHS in 2004. His standing in the world of genealogical and local history research was already long established, he having worked as a freelance research historian and archaeologist since 1969. Various posts included Secretary to the Council for Kentish Archaeology, Chairman of AGRA and an editor at the Public Record Office. He served on the Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library committee and, in recent years, on their User Group. Duncan taught for some years in adult education and also part-time at the School of History at the University of Kent. For many years he collaborated with Patricia Hyde on publications about the history of Faversham, particularly with early manuscripts. In 2000 the British Record Society (in association with the Kent Archaeological Society) published their 700-page volume on the Kent Hearth Tax of 1664, edited jointly by Duncan.
He was known to many for the various indices he compiled to aid researchers, as well as for his remarkably accomplished palaeographic skills, both in Latin and English. Others will be grateful to Duncan for his unfailing willingness to share his experiences and knowledge, often accompanied by his infectious good humour. Although clearly a “team player” from his earliest days with Kent FHS projects, Duncan also enjoyed forging ahead energetically on some tasks, and was more than once heard to remark that his favourite committees were comprised of only two members - with one absent!
Although Duncan’s most “hands on” time with the KFHS was during the earlier years, his close interest in our progress never wavered. He very much enjoyed his involvement with the Alan Neame essay award judging panel in recent years and he will be familiar to many members through his chairing of the Society’s AGM.
His loss to the Society is immense. May he rest in peace.