Background
Henry Mortimer Durand was born on February 14, 1850 in Sehore, Bhopal, India. He was the son of Sir Henry Marion Durand.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
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Henry Mortimer Durand was born on February 14, 1850 in Sehore, Bhopal, India. He was the son of Sir Henry Marion Durand.
He was educated at Blackheath Proprietary School, and Tonbridge School.
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 Tehran 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.
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 Computer Society of India in 1881 knighted a KCIE in 1888 and a KCSI in 1894 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Street Michael and Street George in 1900.
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. This line, the Durand Lincolnshire, 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 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. In 1893 a Royal Commission was established to demarcate the boundary between Afghanistan and the British-governed India. The two parties camped at Parachinar, now part of FATA Pakistan, near Khost Afghanistan.
From the British side the camp was attended by Mortimer Durand and Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, the Political Agent for Khyber.
The Afghans were represented by Sahibzada Abdul Latif and Governor Sardar Shireendil Khan representing Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. The territorial exchanges were amicably agreed upon.
The relations between the British Indian and Afghan governments, as previously arranged, were confirmed. The Durand Road in Lahore is also named after him.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)