Duncan James
Duncan James – Grey Goose Winter Ball 2011 to Benefit the Elton John AIDS Foundation – Arrivals – Battersea Evoloution – London, UK – Keywords: 5th Annual Grey Goose Winter Ball blue carpet arrivals, LMK73-004-301011 Orientation: Portrait Face Count: 1 – False – Photo Credit: Landmark / PR Photos
Birth Name: Duncan Matthew James Inglis
Place of Birth: Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 7 April, 1978
Ethnicity: English, Scottish, possibly other
Duncan James is an English singer, actor, and television presenter. He is a member of boy band Blue, along with Antony Costa, Lee Ryan, and Simon Webbe.
Duncan is the son of Fiona Inglis and Simon Roscoe. He was raised Catholic. Duncan has a daughter with his former partner Claire Grainger.
Duncan’s maternal grandfather was named Donald Inglis. Donald was Scottish.
Duncan is said to be a great-grandson of Herbert Chapman, a prominent football player and manager, and of his wife Annie Bennett Poxon. Herbert was the son of John Chapman and Emma. Annie was the daughter of John Poxon and Bertha Bennett.
I think your overplaying a potential Irish connection. It’s just as likely – in fact more likely – that the Catholicism connection is indigenous England from all of the surveys done on this. Even taking into account assimilation, those of Irish Catholic background make up well less than half of Catholics in Ireland and Wales.
So, yeah, his ancestry may include Irish roots, but simply the fact that there is Catholic background is not as big a hint as you’re making it out to be.
This is likely his biological father Simon Roscoe:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV7Z-PLSM
In May 2020, Duncan’s mother was 62 years old, which means she was born in either 1957 or 1958. She is from Dorset, England, and I think this could be her:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV7T-BPJD
I doubt his mother’s ancestry is entirely Scottish since she raised her son Catholic. It’s not impossible, but more likely, she has ancestry from a predominantly Catholic ethnicity, likely Irish.
His father’s name was Simon Roscoe. Apparently, he never met him before he died. Simon died in 2014 or 2016 at the age of 61. Roscoe is usually an English surname.
https://www.contactmusic.com/blue/news/duncan-james.-father-speaks-out
Simons’ maternal grandfather was Donald Inglis, who was Scottish. I suspect his maternal grandmother was, too, but that would be a guess.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/453493/i-feel-so-guilty-i-didnt-go-to-dads-funeral/
So, he’s English (father) and Scottish (mother). Maybe even half and half, but someone else will have to research that.