Duncan Harkness Weir was born in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland, in 1822 . He attended the University of Glasgow, graduating Master of Arts in 1840 and then as a Doctor of Divinity in 1864. He was appointed minister of the Scots Church in Manchester, England, in 1849, leaving the following year to take up the post of Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at the University of Glasgow. He held this post until his death in 1876 as well as being Clerk to the Senate from 1855-1876 with responsibilities for the organisation of Senate, the University's governing body. His son, Thomas Hunter Weir (1865-1928) later became a lecturer in Arabic at the University. Duncan died in Southport, England in 1876 .
Hew Scott, Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae: The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation (Edinburgh, 1915- )
From the guide to the Papers of Duncan Harkness Weir, 1822-1876, Professor of Hebrew and Oriental Languages, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1850s, (Glasgow University Library, Special Collections Department)
