Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Memorial: | Le Touret Memorial | Panel 43 and 44. | |
| 2. Memorial: | The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour | 48C GQS | |
Awards & Titles: | Brilliant Star of Zanzibar 3rd Class Order of El Aliyeh 4th Class | ||
Family :
Son of the late Rev. Havilland Durand (Vicar of Earley, Berks.), and Mrs. Durand, of Guernsey; husband of Geraldine Durand (nee Hawtrey), of 52, New St., Henley-on-Thames.Education & Career :
Entered Elizabeth College 1888.
Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers |
2nd Battalion August 1914 : at Aldershot. Part of 1st (Guards) Brigade in 1st Division. 14 August 1914 : landed at Le Havre. 14 September 1914 : after suffering heavy casualties at Etreux, left Division and became Army Troops. 9 November 1914 : transferred to 3rd Brigade in 1st Division. 30 May 1916 : absorbed troops from disbanded 9th Bn. 3 February 1918 : transferred to 48th Brigade in 16th (Irish) Division. 19 April 1918 : reduced to cadre, surplus troops going to 1st Bn. 31 May 1918 : cadre transferred to 94th Brigade in 31st Division. 6 June 1918 : rebuilt by receiving troops from disbanded 6th Bn. Ten days later left Division and moved to Lines of Communication. 15 July 1918 : transferred to 150th Brigade in 50th (Northumbrian) Division |
| Action : Winter Operations 1914-1915 |
23 November 1914 - 6 February 1915. As the armies of 1914 fought themselves to exhaustion they settled down by the end of the year to the realities of static trench warfare. During the winter, activity was mostly comprised of a series of small scale raids and attempts by the BEF to gain superiority over the battlefront. At the same time increasing numbers of Territorial battalions and replacements for the Regular battalions came into theatre and had to be trained and acclimatised to trench occupation. This period was further noted for the severity of the weather and the need to rapidly source and equip the troops with adequate winter and waterproof equipment, whilst improving the trench conditions. Miserable times.
Captain, Zanzibar (1906)
Saw service in Matabele Rebellion, 1896; obtained his company, 1906.
Gazetted second Lieutenant, 3rd Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (Militia) in 1891, he joined the Rhodesian Horse in 1985 and served within the Gwelo Field Horse in the Matabele Campaign of 1897, being awarded the medal and clasp. From 1899 to 1902 he served with the African Transcontinental Telgraph Survey Through German East Africa, and in the Tanganyika Concessions Expedition to Kalanga, Congo Free State. In 1903 he was employed as Secretary and A.D.C. to the First Minister of the Zanzibar Government.
In 1906 he obtained his company in the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and was seconded under the Foreign Office for the above service.
During his service in Zanzibar he was awarded the Order of El Aliyeh (4th Class) and the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (3rd Class).
In September he joined the 2nd Batt. Royal Munster Fusiliers, and was present at the actions on the Aisne, the Marne, and at Ypres."
Detail :
DURAND. FRANCIS WILLIAM, Captain attached 2nd Btn. Royal Munster Fusiliers. Eldest son of the late Rev. Havilland Durand. Born 29 Jan. 1875; Gazetted 2nd Lieut- 3rd Royal Guernsey C,.I. (Militia), 1891; joined the Rhodesian Horse in 1891 and took part in the Matabeleland Campaign, the Mashonaland Campaign in 1897. From 1899 to 1911 he enjoyed a career in administration in Africa particularly in Zanzibar where he held senior posts. On mobilization in August 1914 he joined his regiment the 3rd Munster Fusiliers, and on 8 Sept. 1914 was attached to the 2nd Btn in France. He was present at the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne, and also at Ypres, and was killed in action between Givenchy and Festubert, 22 Dec. 1914, while leading his men in an attack to retake trenches lost the day before. On the evening of 20 Dec 1914 the 2nd Munsters commanded by Col. A. Bent, were billeted in the outskirts of Bailleul when at 1 p.m. an urgent message' was received by Col.Bent that the 3rd Brigade, to which the battalion belonged, was to be ready to march as soon as possible. They started at 6.15 p.m.. and after marching for six hours in a tearing blizzard of rain and hail, over roads ankle deep in mud, they reached Merville, where a short halt was called. At 8 a.m., outside Bethune, the battalion halted again, awaiting orders. The brigade then resumed its march, through Gorre to Festubert, where the battalion remained in reserve, but on the night of the 21st received orders that there was to be a general attack upon the German line. All that night the Munsters waited, and all that night it rained and snowed and stormed, until the hour arrived when the battalion started to the attack. The men swarmed over the parapets and raced across the fields, carrying their heavy equipment and following their officers over the shell-scarred, churned-up earth, strands of barbed wire beset their way and the ground was broken by great shell holes. Before them, from the German trenches, the machine guns hammered out their deadly message of welcome, and the men went gamely on, most splendidly led by their officers. Captain Hugh O'Brien fell as he shouted to his company,Get a bit of your own back, boys. Not 20 yards from where Capt. O'Brien fell, Capt. Durand met his death leading at the extreme point of the advance made by C Coy under fierce enfilading fire. Men fell on the right and left, and again and again they rallied and stumbled over the broken ground, holding steadily on under the wail of tearing shrapnel and at last the Munsters reached their goal, the given point, and in the fierce counter-attack they did not lose an inch of what they had taken. Capt. Durand married at St. Mary Abbotts Church. Kensington, 4 June. 1903, Geraldine Vesey (40, Arundel Gardlens, Kensington Park Road. W.), 1st. daughter of the late Rev. John William Hawtrev, of Aldin House, Slough
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship No. 84 E.C. | Guernsey & Alderney |
| Joined : | East Africa No. 3007 E.C. | East Africa |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
26th December 1902 | 3rd May 1903 | 14th February 1906 |
Initiated into Doyle's Lodge of Fellowship, Guernsey in 1902, but resigned on 30th June 1906. He then appeared and joined Lodge East Africa No. 3007 on the 13th December 1906 and went on to become Senior Warden.
Source :
The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- The (UK) National Archives
- Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
- ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry
Additional Source:
- Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
- Researcher : Bruce Littley