Career
Durand entered the Indian Civil Service in 1873. During the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) he was Political Secretary at Kabul. From 1884 to 1894, he was Foreign Secretary of India. Durand was appointed Minister plenipotentiary at Teheran in 1894 although despite being a Persian scholar and speaking the language fluently he made little impression either in Tehran or on his superiors in London. He left in 1900 by which time owing to the illness of his wife Ella he had withdrawn from social life and the legation was in a depressed and disorganised state. From 1900 to 1903 he served as British Ambassador to Spain, and from 1903-1906 as Ambassador to the United States of America. He was appointed a CSI in 1881 knighted a KCIE in 1888 and a KCSI in 1894 and appointed a GCMG in 1900.
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
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