Overview
Major-General Sir Henry Marion Durand, (6 November 1812 – 1 January 1871) was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and served as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab from 1870 until his death in 1871.
Early life
Durand was one of two illegitimate sons of Major Henry Percy, a cavalry officer who served in the Peninsular War and later at the Battle of Waterloo, and Marion Durand, a French woman he met while prisoner-of-war in the Napoleonic Wars. Born in Coulandon, France, both his parents died whilst he was young, and he was placed in the care of a family friend Mr. Deans.
He was educated at the East India Company Military Seminary at Addiscombe where he was a contemporary of the future Lord Napier of Magdala who passed out two years before him.
Career
Durand sailed for India in 1829. On-board he developed a friendship with fellow passenger Alexander Duff, however the ship was wrecked on Dassen Island and the friends separated.
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).