Held to fill the office of Junior Bailie after the death of Bailie Gilbert Duncan on 19 February 1844. Joseph Leask, already a councillor since 1835, was proposed by Andrew Duncan junior, seconded by Mr Heddell, Comptroller of Customs, and elected unanimously by the twenty-one burgesses present. The wiki recorded the vacancy as Charles Duncan's; the Lerwick Town Council minute book, pp. 101–102, is explicit that it was Gilbert's (notice 20 April 1844 by Bailie Charles Ogilvy; election 3 May 1844 in the Sheriff Court Room, Fort Charlotte).