Duncan MacNaughton
{{Short description|Scottish lawyer and astronomer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Duncan MacNaughton WS FRSE (2 March 1892 – 1 October 1973) was a 20th-century Scottish lawyer and astronomer and archaeologist. Also disguising a secret parallel love of astrology, he wrote under the name of Maurice Wemyss on astrological matters.A History of Horoscopic Astrology, James H Holden
Life
He was born on 2 March 1892 the son of Peter MacNaughton, a solicitor in the Supreme Courts. The family lived at 3 Danube Street in Stockbridge, Edinburgh.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1892-3 He was privately educated at Edinburgh Academy 1900–1910. He then studied law at the University of Edinburgh graduating with an MA around 1913. He was apprenticed as a lawyer to Thomas Hunter (later Sir Thomas Hunter) Notary Public at 29 Dundas Street.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1902-3
In the First World War he enlisted as a Private in the 9th battalion Royal Scots. He was wounded in 1915. He then received a commission and served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Gordon Highlanders.
He qualified as a Writer to the Signet in 1919 and joined the famous Edinburgh firm of JS and JW Fraser Tytler, descended from Patrick Fraser Tytler, and based at 22 Young Street in Edinburgh's New Town.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1911-12
In 1943, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were George James Lidstone, William Michael Herbert Greaves, Sir William Wright Smith, and James Watt.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=31 July 2017|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|url-status=dead}}
He died in Edinburgh on 1 October 1973.
Publications
As Duncan MacNaughton:
- A Scheme of Babylonian Chronology
- A Scheme of Egyptian Chronology
As Maurice Wemyss:
- The Wheel of Life: or Scientific Astrology (1920)
- More Notable Nativities and Famous Nativities (1943)
References
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Category:People educated at Edinburgh Academy
Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
Category:20th-century British astrologers
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