Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (14 February 1850 – 8 June 1924) was a British diplomat and civil servant of colonial British India.
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Born at Sehore, Bhopal, India, he was the son of Sir Henry Marion Durand, the Resident of Baroda and he was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School, and Tonbridge School.[1]
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 He left in 1900 by which time owing to the illness of his wife Ella he had withdrawn from social life and the legation was in a depressed and disorganised state.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.
In 1893, Mortimer Durand negotiated with Abdur Rahman Khan, the Amir of Afghanistan, the frontier between modern-day Pakistan the successor state of British India and Afghanistan, the successor state of Khorasan. This line, the Durand Line, is named after him and remains the international boundary between Afghanistan and modern-day Pakistan, officially recognized by most nations but an ongoing point of contention between the two countries.
In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand was deputed to Kabul by the government of British India for the purpose of settling an exchange of territory required by the demarcation of the boundary between northeastern Afghanistan and the Russian possessions, and in order to discuss with the Amir Abdur Rahman Khan other pending questions. The Amir Abdur Rahman Khan showed his usual ability in diplomatic argument, his tenacity where his own views or claims were in debate, with a sure underlying insight into the real situation.
The territorial exchanges were amicably agreed upon; the relations between the British Indian and Afghan governments, as previously arranged, were confirmed; and an understanding was reached upon the important and difficult subject of the borderline of Afghanistan on the east, towards India.
In 1893, during rule of Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan, a Royal Commission for setting up of Boundary the Durand line between Afghanistan and the British-governed India was set up, to negotiate terms with the British for the Agreeing to the Durand line. The two parties camped at Parachinar, now part of FATA Pakistan, which is near Khost Afghanistan.
From The British side the camp was Attended by Mortimer Durand and Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, Political Agent Khyber.
The Afghanistan was represented by Sahibzada Abdul Latif and the Governor Sardar Shireendil Khan representing the King Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.[2]
Durand died at Polden, Somerset, England, in 1924. He is buried in Dera Ismail Khan, a big city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan.
From 1906, after his return to England, he devoted his time in writing.
He also published the biography of his father general Henry Marion Durand (1812–1871) and had ambitions as novelist (often with his wife Lady E. R. Durand (1852–1913) as co-author). Some of his publications: