Name
Arthur Michael Durrant (MC)
29 September 1888
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/12/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Royal Engineers
257th Tunnelling Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
PONT-DU-HEM MILITARY CEMETERY, LA GORGUE
Plot II, Row C, Grave 11.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Individual Plaque St James' Church Memorial, Watford Fields, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Leverstock Green Village Memorial, St Saviour's Church Memorial, Pimlico (Not Hertfordshire)
Pre War
Arthur Michael Durrant was born on 29 September 1888 in West
Ham, London, son of the Reverend Arthur and Alice Mabel (nee PELLY) Durrant,
who had married on 1 October 1885 at St John’s, Stratford, Essex. He was baptised at there on 1 November 1888
and was one of four children. Arthur was sometimes called by his second name
Michael in order to distinguish him from his father.
His parents
married 1 October 1885 at St John’s, Stratford, Essex. Alice died 2 October 1927 in Leverstock Green
aged 61, and was buried 6 October at Holy Trinity, Leverstock Green; Arthur died
3 July 1936 aged 77 in Leverstock Green, and was buried 8 July, also at Holy
Trinity.
On the 1891 Census, aged 2 he lived in Saffron Walden,
Essex, without his parents but with one sibling.
His father
became vicar of Leverstock Green in October 1899 and on the 1901 Census was
listed at the Leverstock Green Vicarage with his mother and sisters Lorna and
Enid, as well as his uncle Theodore Pelly, a cook, a housemaid and nurse.
However, Arthur, then aged 12, was a boarder at Hillside Preparatory School in
West Malvern, Worcestershire. He then attended Marlborough College from
September 1902 to July 1905 and was a talented artist, In 1901 a picture he had
drawn of Leverstock Green church was shown at the Royal Academy. On the 1911
Census, an architect aged 22, he was a passenger on a boat in Hastings, Sussex.
He trained as
an architect and qualified in 1912 as an Associate of the Royal Institute of
British Architects. Arthur then worked in the firm of Moore-Smith and Durrant
(Architects) in Union Court, London, specialising in church buildings and was
the architect for St James Church, Watford, consecrated in 1913, and
Broadstairs parish church, Kent. On the night of the 1911 Census he was listed
as a passenger on a boat in Hastings, Sussex.
He married Jemima Wilson in 1916 in the St George Hanover
Square, London, district.
He originally
enlisted in the Honourable Artillery Company 1 March 1909: aged 20, 5’8″ tall,
of Leverstock Green, Herts. He resigned
from the H.A.C. 21 November 1910; and also had four years service in the Sussex
Yeomanry, being discharged 1913
Wartime Service
He enlisted for Short Service (3 years with the Colours) at the start of the war on 29 August 1914, initially serving at home as Private 662 with the 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. This was the first Pals battalion, known as the Stockbrokers. Two others from Leverstock Green, Alfred (C H) Chisman and Herbert Secretan also enlisted in this battalion (both sadly died and are also named on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial).
He applied for a commission and on 4 December 1914, he was discharged for appointment to a commission. He was promoted Captain 1 July 1916 which was confirmed on 30 November and he was posted to the 8th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, which was commanded by his uncle Raymond Theodore Pelly. He was sent to France on 4 December 1914 and transferred to the Royal Engineers tunnelling section.
He was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry near Frelingheim on 23 December 1915 when he was in charge of a mining party which accidentally broke into a German gallery with a mine about to explode. He prevented the Germans from exploding their mine by exploding his own first.
He was granted home leave in the spring of 1916 and returned to marry his fiancée Jemima Wilson, at St George's church in Hanover Square, London. Jemima was the daughter of the late Captain Belford Randolph Wilson, of the 19th Hussars and came from Grey Wells in Hampshire.
His mother died in 1927 and his father in 1936, both are buried at Holy Trinity, Leverstock Green. Jemima later remarried in 1923 in the Sherborne, Dorset, to Wilfred A Dickinson and lived in Leamington Spa.
He was promoted to Captain on 1 July 1916, joining the 257th Tunnelling Company. On 5 December 1916, aged 27, he was killed in action and is buried in Pont-du-Hem Military Cemetery, La Gorgue, France.
Additional Information
His widow received £207 5s 0d pay owing. She was also granted probate on 27 February 1917 with effects of £243 5s 8d. Jemima remarried 1923 in the Sherborne, Dorset, district to Wilfred A DICKINSON. There are articles about Arthur in the: Birmingham Evening Despatch, Lancashire Evening Post, Liverpool Echo, Manchester Evening News, all dated 24 January 1916; the Thanet Advertiser dated 5 February 1916; and the Leverstock Green Chronicle dated 4 November 1916.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk), google.com/site/leverstockgreenwarmemorial, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com., www. archive, marlboroughcollege.org.
