David Duncombe

He was born in the State of New York, in 1802, and in 1819 came to Canada with his brother, Dr. Charles Duncombe, to who he was articled as a student. In 1821, his father, Thomas Duncombe, removed to Canada and settled near his sons in the township of Westminster, and in full view of the place where the City of London now stands. In 1820 Dr. Duncombe began the practice of medicine, being sent to visit his brother's patients, and has since been continuously practising [sic] his profession. There was not at this time a licensed practitioner between Sandwich on the west and Ancaster of the east. The Townships of Westminster, Delaware, Dorchester, London, Lobe and Caradoc were very sparely settled, while the settlements of Oxford and Brantford township were somewhat more advanced. Through these Townships Dr. Charles Duncombe practised, assisted by his brother David, for some years. In 1823, his father died, and under the then existing laws his eldest son inherited all his property, leaving the younger brother David with nothing. The next year he attended lectures at Fairfield College, in the State of New York, there being no medical schools in Canada at that early day. At the close of the lectures he found himself penniless and without the means to returning to Canada except on foot. With his clothes and text books on his back, through roads that were to a great extent little more than Indian trails, he accomplished the whole journey of over five hundred miles on foot.

On his return he practised at St. Thomas a few months, and in the winter of 1824 removed to the County of Norfolk, and settled in the Township of Townsend, only a short distance from where he new resides. During the first few years of his professional career his practice extended from St. Thomas to Ancaster, and as these journeys were made on horseback over roads that were at times all but impassable through mud and rain, and with patients to treat all along the road, one can scarcely realize the amount of labor and hardship involved in a professional life in the days when Canada was young.

But Dr. Duncombe did all this this and did it well, and in addition cleared and cultivated a farm and raised and educated a large family. The life of this successful veteran affords a significant commentary on the common saying that some men are born lucky -- in his case, not luck, but plodding industry and unceasing labor, have crowned his latter days with that contentment which comes only of a consciousness of a well spent and useful life.

Dr. Duncombe has been twice elected a member of Parliament, first in 1835, and afterwards, on the dissolution of the House in 1837, he was re-elected, and sat for the County until the Parliament again expired. It is unnecessary to record here the stirring events which transpired while he was in Parliament, as they are well known. As is usual in such cases, both parties were extreme and both wrong. Dr. Duncombe pursued that difficult middle course which, on reflection, all most approve. A zealous and steadfast Reformer, and an unflinching advocate of responsible government, he only sought to carry out his views by constitutional means; and although he acted with William Lyon McKenzie and Dr. John Rolph, in advocating and agitating for the constitutional changes then needed, he severed his connection with them when they raised the standard of revolt against their sovereign; and voted for the expulsion of the latter from the House of [sic] Treason; not however, for one moment abandoning the advocacy of his principles.

In his family, as in his professional success, and in the respect and esteem of the whole community, Dr. Duncombe at the ripe age of seventy-five is enjoying his reward for a long life of earnest labor and sterling integrity.