Henry Marion Durand

Major-General Sir Henry Marion Durand, (6 November 1812 – 1 January 1871) was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and served as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab from 1870 until his death in 1871.

Early life Durand was one of two illegitimate sons of Major Henry Percy, a cavalry officer who served in the Peninsular War and later at the Battle of Waterloo, and Marion Durand, a French woman he met while prisoner-of-war in the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Coulandon, France, both his parents died whilst he was young, and he was placed in the care of a family friend Mr. Deans.

He was educated at the East India Company Military Seminary at Addiscombe where he was a contemporary of the future Lord Napier of Magdala who passed out two years before him.

Career Durand sailed for India in 1829. On-board he developed a friendship with fellow passenger Alexander Duff, however the ship was wrecked on Dassen Island and the friends separated. Durand was sent to England to assist in plans to re-organise the Company armies. Whilst in England he was appointed to Council of the Secretary of State for India, remaining in the role for the next three years until he resigned in 1861.

The Hindoo Patriot later remarked of his time with the council, "He touched upon questions of all descriptions which came before the Council with all the skill and masterliness of an expert...all his utterances were marked by an intelligent appreciation of the want and wishes of the people, by broad sympathies, and by fearless independence." He was a vocal opponent of the Punjaub Tenancy Act, pronounced the North West Municipal Act as an unmitigated sham practically used for the convenience of a few European residents rather than for the good of the mass of the population, and raised opposition to the Income Tax policy which he described as "odious". Such was the esteem he was held in by locals, the article remarked that he and William Mansfield constituted "the only independent element in the Council and when they left the right hand of the government was lopped off." He was buried in Saint Thomas' Church in Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP, British India.

The inscription of his tomb reads:

Personal life Durand had three sons: Edward, 1st Baronet Durand; Mortimer Durand; and Algernon Durand. Mortimer served in the Indian Civil Service and later in the British diplomatic service. For a time he lived at Furness Lodge, East Sheen, Richmond.

One of Durand's daughters, Frances Mary Durand, married Major General Charles MacGregor. Another daughter, Ethel Durand, married the naturalist and African explorer James Sligo Jameson.