Sir Mortimer Durand

Henry Mortimer Durand was born in India in 1850 and made his early career in the Indian Civil Service. During the Second Anglo-Afghan War he served as political secretary to General Frederick Roberts at Kabul. He later became foreign secretary to the government of India, a position from which he returned to Afghanistan to negotiate frontiers. He later held embassy appointments in Persia, Spain, and the United States. ^{1, 2}

The agreement negotiated at Kabul in November 1893 gave his name to the Durand Line. It allocated control along the frontier between Afghanistan and British India, including strategic approaches through the Khyber and Bolan passes, while leaving other districts on the Afghan side. The boundary divided several existing tribal territories. Durand himself did not carry out its subsequent survey and marking: most of that work was undertaken by separate commissions between 1894 and 1896. The agreement’s imprecise wording and small scale map left disputes that outlasted the original negotiation. ³

As minister in Tehran from 1894, Durand confronted expanding Russian influence and limited support for competing British projects. He promoted the Sistan trade route, improvements to the consular service, and expansion of telegraph connections. His attempt to arrange a British loan for the Persian government failed amid Treasury opposition and bankers’ concerns. In 1899 he and his wife travelled through southwestern Persia to examine routes, commercial possibilities, and local conditions. Although he opposed a formal partition into spheres of influence, his own sketch of Britain’s strategic priorities was later invoked in arguments over the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907. ¹

After serving in Madrid, Durand became ambassador in Washington in 1903. He worked to protect Niagara Falls from excessive diversion for industrial use. In September 1905 he addressed the Canadian government about proposed joint action; in November he sent Secretary of State Elihu Root the Canadian Privy Council’s response. It reported that the international waterways commission was studying the issue and preparing recommendations. ⁴

Recalled from Washington at the end of 1906, Durand turned increasingly to writing. His works included biographies and historical fiction, among them Nadir Shah and The Charm of Persia. He unsuccessfully contested Plymouth as a Conservative and Unionist in 1910 alongside Waldorf Astor. His daughter Josephine had accompanied him on many official engagements during her mother’s illness. Durand died in 1924; his diaries, correspondence, and American press cuttings survive among the family papers at SOAS. ^{2, 1}