James Duff

Who was James Duff?

Colonel James Duff was a British Army officer and Conservative Party politician from Westwick in Norfolk.

Duff was born in Elgin, the son of James Duff and his wife Charlotte, eldest daughter of Sir George Beeston Prescott. His grandfather was Major-General Sir James Duff.

Duff was educated at Rugby and entered the army as an ensign in 1851. He served with the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sebastopol, and was taken prisoner in the Battle of Inkerman. He retired from the army in 1858 as a major, having received the Crimea Medal with two clasps, and became a Justice of the Peace in Norfolk.

He was elected as a Member of Parliament for North Norfolk at a by-election in April 1876, after the death of Frederick Walpole MP, and held the seat until his death less than three years later. In Parliament, Duff spoke on military matters, and was active in getting the Norfolk and Suffolk Fisheries Act 1877 through Parliament.