DUNCAN, WALTER JOHN CLARE (1894-1939), bank officer and soldier, was born on 27 January 1894 at Inverell, New South Wales, eldest son of Walter Sydney Duncan, bank clerk and station-manager, and his wife Margaret McIntyre, née McGregor. Educated at Inverell Grammar School, he joined the Bank of New South Wales at Barraba in 1910 and was transferred to Narrabri in 1911, Coonabarabran in 1915 and Sydney in 1916. He served for four years in the militia with the 5th Australian Light Horse (New England) Regiment before World War I. His paternal grandfather and two uncles had reached general rank in the British and Indian armies.

On 6 August 1914 Duncan had tried to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force but was rejected because of insufficient chest measurement. Undeterred, he developed his physique and by March 1915 was a sergeant in the light horse. That month he gained a militia commission ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography