Henry Marion Durand

Sir Henry Marion Durand (1812–1871) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.

Career

Henry Marion Durand, standing third from left, with John Lawrence, Viceroy of India and other council members. c. 1864

After training at the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe (1827-8), Durand left Britain for India in 1829, arriving in May 1830. He served initially as Second Lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers. He attained the rank of Major-General, and served in the First Afghan War (1839–1842), and the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848–1849). He also served as Commissioner of Tenasserim (1844–1846), as Resident of Gwalior (1849–1852), and Acting Resident of Baroda (March 1852 – March 1854). During the Indian Rebellion (1857–1858), he served as a military commander in western Malwa. He served finally as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab (1 June 1870 – 1 January 1871).

Family

His son, Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, served in the Indian Civil Service and later in the British diplomatic service. He lived at Furness Lodge east Sheen, Richmond. He is buried in a Church in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Death

He was killed on 31 December 1871 when passing on an elephant under a gateway in the city of Tonk now Tank, Pakistan. A Bittani-young-man Mr. Abdul-ur-Rahim (Behlol Khail) of a town named as Kirri Haider (Tonk or Tank) had killed him. Mr. A.Rahim Jumped to the elephant got-off his driver forcefully and tactically and raced his elephant and strucked the head of the General to the big wooden Timber over the Door, which was quite bellow. Durand had killed at the spot. Resultantly, Bittani Tribe was banned for each and every kind of Business at Tonk and Dera Ismail Khan.

References

•  Stephen, Leslie, ed (1888). "Durand, Henry Marion". Dictionary of National Biography. 16. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 

Further reading

• The First Afghan War and Its Causes
• The Life of Major General Sir Henry Marion Durand of the Royal Engineers (London: W H Allen, 1883)