Duncan also worked on ordering the Winchester
College Natural History collections, helping
organise, index and collate and making extensive
drawings which reveal a substantial amount of artistic
experimentation, for instance an attempt to capture
the exact texture of feathers in crayon drawing.
The eulogies and social media testimonials Duncan
received speak of him as a natural and charismatic
leader, defined by an unfussy humility. He was an
all-rounder with a vocation and a passion, who left
a positive mark on all with whom he came into
contact. He was astonished and embarrassed,
I have been told, when the other boys gave him a
spontaneous round of applause as he introduced the
Question and Answer session on the occasion of
Sir David Attenborough’s visit. In the simplest and
most honest sense, he made a difference in a brief
life which, to cite Keats, can seem but ‘a fragile
dewdrop on its perilous way from a tree’s summit’.
Duncan was a countryman as well as a naturalist;
he understood the real timbre of that biodiversity
to which I earlier alluded. That is, to appreciate
and accept that nature is, as Tennyson had it, of
necessity ‘Red in tooth and claw’. Aldo Leopold,
the American natural historian generally perceived
as the Founder of Modern Conservation wrote that
‘land as a community is the basic concept of ecology,
but that land is to be loved and respected is an
extension of ethics.’ Yet, Leopold was himself, from
a boy, a keen, accomplished and prolific game hunter.
Likewise, Duncan loved stalking deer in Scotland
from his earliest days and fishing for brown trout on
the notoriously difficult stretches of the Upper Itchen.
The Duncan Louis Stewart Natural History Fellowship
will show present and future generations the real and
inextricable link between their lives and the world
that surrounds them and that there is more to Natural
History than the exotic and charming but sentimental
anthropomorphism of ‘Meerkat Manor’. This is why
it is such a fitting tribute to a remarkable young man.
And I am delighted to be able to conclude this article
by recording that the Head Man has appointed as the
first Duncan Louis Stewart Fellow, Nick Baker (in
the photograph above), the well-known naturalist and
television presenter, notably on Children’s BBC The
Really Wild Show. His exceptional knowledge, excellent
communication skills and infectious enthusiasm
have already begun to impact on NH at Win Coll.
The Wykeham Journal 2015 33