author
H. Mortimer (Henry Mortimer) Durand
1850–1924
Remembered as the diplomat behind the Durand Line, he spent much of his career on the tense frontiers of British India and later served in Tehran and Washington. He also wrote poetry and books, giving his public life an unexpected literary side.
1 Audiobook
The Thirteenth Hussars in the Great War
by H. Mortimer (Henry Mortimer) Durand
About the author
Born in Sehore, in Bhopal State, India, in 1850, Henry Mortimer Durand became a British diplomat and a member of the Indian Civil Service. He is best known for the 1893 agreement that gave its name to the Durand Line, the boundary drawn between Afghanistan and British India, a decision whose effects have lasted far beyond his own lifetime.
His career ranged widely across imperial diplomacy. During the Second Anglo-Afghan War he served as political secretary, and he later held senior posts including foreign secretary to the Government of India, minister in Tehran, and ambassador to the United States. Those roles placed him at the center of British policy in South and Central Asia at a time of constant political pressure and negotiation.
Durand was also a writer. Alongside official work, he published poetry and other books, which makes him a slightly unusual figure: a frontier diplomat with a literary streak. He died in Somerset, England, in 1924.