In February 1930 there was a mass brawl in the pub between members of the Sabini gang and their rivals, the Hoxton Gang, which resulted in a number of serious injuries including one man having his throat cut with broken glass. ĭuring the 1920s, the Admiral Duncan was frequented by mob boss Charles 'Darby' Sabini and was a gathering place for members of his gang. In December 1881, a customer received eight years' penal servitude for various offences in connection with his ejection from the Admiral Duncan public house by keeper William Gordon. and he was subsequently transported to Australia. However, his sentence was quickly commuted to life imprisonment. Collins was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, as the medieval punishment for high treason was then still in effect. In June of that year, Dennis Collins, a wooden-legged Irish ex-sailor living at the pub, was charged with high treason for throwing stones at King William IV at Ascot Racecourse. The Admiral Duncan has been trading since at least 1832. The pub is named after Admiral Adam Duncan, who defeated the Dutch fleet at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797.
