Name Henry Durand Rank Major General | Years of service 1828-1871 | |
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Born 6 November 1812 ( 1812-11-06 ) Battles/wars First Anglo-Afghan WarSecond Anglo-Sikh WarIndian Rebellion Children Mortimer Durand, Edward Durand, Algernon Durand Books The First Afghan War and Its Causes Awards Order of the Star of India, Order of the Bath Similar People Mortimer Durand, Wazir Akbar Khan, Dost Mohammad Khan, William George Keith Elp, George Pollock | ||
Service/branch British Indian Army | ||
Major-General Sir Henry Marion Durand, (6 November 1812 – 1 January 1871) was a British Indian Army officer and colonial administrator.
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Career
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 Anglo-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. Promoted to major-general, he served finally as Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab (1 June 1870 – 1 January 1871).
Family
Henry Marion Durand was one of two illegitimate sons of Major the Hon. Henry Percy and Mlle Marion Durand, a French woman he met while prisoner-of-war in the Napoleonic Wars. Percy became famous for bringing the news of the victory at Waterloo back to England. 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.
Death
On the evening of 31 December 1870 Durand was thrown from an elephant as it attempted to pass under a low gateway in the city of Tonk (now Tank, Pakistan). He fell heavily, and died the following day. He was buried in a church in Dera Ismail Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.