James Duncan (tailor)
Scottish tailor and landowner
James Duncan of Ratho (died 1639) was a Scottish tailor and landowner who worked for Anne of Denmark in England.
Costume
Duncan had family connections at Colpy near Culsalmond in Aberdeenshire, in the lands of Henrietta Stewart, a favourite of Anne of Denmark, and her husband George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, and at the Mote of Errol and Gourdiehill in Perthshire.
After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, Duncan came to England and was appointed a yeoman of the robes and master tailor to Anne of Denmark, the wife of James VI and I. An account made by a member of Princess Elizabeth's household, Anne Livingstone, or by the Princess herself, records payments to "James Duncan's man" for carrying gowns from Winchester and Salisbury to Nonsuch and Oatlands.
As well as working on the queen's clothes, her robes and "bodies", Duncan supplied costume for her masques, including The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses in January 1604. His work for the masque may have involved selecting garments from the wardrobe of Elizabeth I with the Countess of Suffolk and Audrey Walsingham to be cut up and recycled.
Duncan received £5 yearly as a fee as a yeoman of the wardrobe, and £36 as the master tailor by letters patent. In July 1614 he was given an allowance for livery for life. He was also paid for work and materials supplied to the queen.
His English will was proved in June 1639, giving his London residence as the parish of St Ann Blackfriars. His wife was Ellen Duncan, and they had three daughters, Isobel, Sara, and Lucie.
The public source identifies “James Duncan (tailor)” as scottish tailor and landowner. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around James, Duncan and tailor.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “James Duncan (tailor)”, the useful work is to connect “scottish tailor and landowner” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q119873091. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1639, 1603, 1604 and 1614.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “James Duncan (tailor)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow James Duncan (tailor) primary sources, James Duncan (tailor) archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “James Duncan (tailor)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “James Duncan (tailor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.