St Martin's, Brasted

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Church-related sites

We're very grateful to Roger Rogowski for pointing St Martin's site towards the two items below.

War graves and memorials

Churchyard graves

Leland Lewis Duncan (24 August 1862–26 December 1923) was an English public servant, antiquary and author. He was the eldest child of Leland Crosthwait Duncan and Caroline Ellen Lewis. His father, a grandson of Leland Crosthwait, Governor General of the Bank of Ireland, had left Ireland for London in 1851 and after his marriage settled in Lewisham, where Leland Lewis Duncan was born, and where he lived throughout his life. He was educated at Colfe's [Grammar] School, and began a career as a public servant. His 40 year service with the War Office, beginning in 1882, was recognised with an MVO and an OBE as he rose in position. He became interested in archaeology early in life, and began disposing of his spare time by copying wills at Somerset House. His work in this field led to his appointment as general editor on Challenor Smith's 1893 Index of wills, published by the British Record Society. Duncan's transcription and editing of this material, which he carefully produced throughout his life, became an important resource to his contemporaries and later researchers. He made many field trips to note the deteriorating engravings amongst the memorials of churchyards, carefully recorded in an extensive set of notebooks. He was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1890, contributed to the works of the St Paul's Ecclesiological Society and Lewisham Antiquarian Society, and was a life member of the Kent Archaeological Society.

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