Name
Arthur Michael Durrant (MC)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/12/1916
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Captain
Royal Engineers
257th Tunnelling Company
Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Military Cross
Cemetery/Memorial
PONT-DU-HEM MILITARY CEMETERY, LA GORGUE
Plot II, Row C, Grave 11.
France
UK Memorials
Individual Plaque St James' Church Memorial, Watford,
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
Leverstock Green Village Memorial
Pre War
Son of the Reverend Arthur and Alice Mabel (nee PELLY) DURRANT; husband of Jemima (nee WILSON) DURRANT.
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.
Arthur was born 29 September 1889 in West Ham, and married 1916 in the St George Hanover Square, London, district. Jemima remarried 1923 in the Sherborne, Dorset, district to Wilfred A DICKINSON.
On the 1891 Census, aged 2 he lived in Saffron Walden, Essex, without his parents but with one sibling. On the 1901 Census, aged 12 he was a boarder in West Malvern, Worcs. On the 1911 Census, an architect aged 22, he was a passenger on a boat in Hastings, Sussex.
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 attested for Short Service (3 years with the Colours) 29 August 1914: an architect aged 25, 5’6″ tall, C of E, and was Private 662 10th Battalion Royal Fusiliers.
He served at Home 29 August to 4 December 1914, when he was discharged on appointment to a commission.
He was promoted Captain 1 July 1916, was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals, his qualifying date being 12 August 1914, and was killed in action.
Additional Information
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.
Arthur does not feature on the St James' Memorial outside the church, but has a plaque inside (as the architect responsible for the design of the church).
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
