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 Dictionary of Indian Biography (Buckland) |
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 Dictionary of Indian Biography D to F
| Date transcribed | 2011-03-01 | | Transcribed by | Peter Bailey | | Comment | Note that notables of Indian, Afghan, etc. origin do not always follow the alphabetical name pattern established by Buckland in his original work. |
| | Surname | Durand | | | First Name(s) | Henry Marion | | | Titles | Sir | | | Year of Birth | 1812 | | | Year of Death | 1871 | | | Entry | Son of a cavalry officer : born Nov. 6, 1812 : educated at Leicester and Addiscombe : entered the Bengal Engineers, 1828: went to India in 1829-30, in the same ship as Dr. A. Duff (q.v.) : appointed to irrigation work in the N.W.P. : it was proposed to make him Secretary of the Board of Revenue, N.W.P., but instead he went, in 1838, with the Army to Kabul via Kandahar, and headed the party that blew open the Kabul gate of Ghazni, July 23, 1839 : returned soon to India :from Kabul : went out from England, after leave, as Private Secretary to Lord Ellenborough (Governor-General, 1842-4) : was present at Maharajpur, became Captain in 1843 : was Commissioner of Tenasserim, 1844, until removed by Sir Herbert Maddock, the President in Council, in 1846 : he obtained no redress in England. In the Sikh war, 1848-9, Durand was at Chilianwala and Gujarat : Brevet-Major : became Political Agent at Gwalior and Bhopal successively : wrote there largely for the Calcutta Review : in 1856 was Inspecting-Engineer, Presidency Circle, until Lord Canning made him Agent to the Governor-General for Central India. In the mutiny he was compelled, by the strength of the insurrection of Holkar's native troops at Indore, to retire thence, fought several actions, and reconquered Western Malwa : C.B. and Brevet-Colonel : deputed to England to represent the views of the Government of India on the re-construction of the Army in India : Member of the Council of India, 1859-61 : Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, 1861-65 : Military Member of the Governor-General's Supreme Council, April 27, 1865, until he became Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab, June 1, 1870 : Maj -General and K.C.S.I. in 1867 : he was accidentally killed at Tonk on Jan. 1, 1871, his howdah, on an elephant's back, being crushed under the arch of a gateway : Durand was thrown violently to the ground and picked up insensible : he recovered consciousness after several hours, but remained paralyzed�his spine had been paralyzed�his spine had been injured�and passed away without pain. No officer in India at the time had a greater reputation for ability, experience, high principles, force of character : he held strong views and expressed them strongly. The Secretary of State wrote of him : The life of such a man is an ""example to the Service" | | | Spare 1 | and her Majesty's Government deeply deplore his death. " |
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A List of eminent persons who served in British India, together with short biographical notes of each
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