Clement Vavasor Durell (born 6 June 1882,

Fulbourn Fulbourn is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, with evidence of settlement dating back to Neolithic times. The village was probably established under its current name by 1200. The waterfowl-frequented stream after which it was named lies i ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, died

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

, 10 December 1968) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

schoolmaster The word schoolmaster, or simply master, refers to a male school teacher. This usage survives in British independent schools, both secondary and preparatory, and a few Indian boarding schools (such as The Doon School) that were modelled aft ...

who wrote

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

textbooks.

Background and early life

A son of John Vavasor Durell (1837–1923), Rector of

, Cambridgeshire, and his wife Ellen Annie Carlyon, Durell had four older brothers. He was educated at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_ ...

and

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

(1900–1904), where he gained a first class in part two of the mathematics

tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

and was seventh wrangler.

Career

*Assistant master at Gresham's School, Holt, 1904–1905 *Assistant master at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

, 1910 *Lieutenant in

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA ...

during

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

Mentioned in Dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

*Housemaster of Chernocke House, Winchester College, 1920–1927 In 1900 he joined the

Mathematical Association The Mathematical Association is a professional society concerned with mathematics education in the UK. History It was founded in 1871 as the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching and renamed to the Mathematical Association in ...

and in the 1900s was contributing articles on teaching to its journal, ''The Mathematical Gazette''. After the

, he found a substantial second career and income in writing textbooks. After spending most of his career teaching and writing about mathematics at Winchester, Durell retired to East Preston, Sussex, wintering in

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

and

, where he died in 1968. His estate at death amounted to £200,098, which in the 1960s was a large fortune for the son of a clergyman to amass as a schoolmaster.

Books

Durell's textbooks were hugely successful from the 1920s, and by 1935 his publisher, G. Bell & Sons, was claiming:

''There can indeed be few secondary schools in the English-speaking world in which some at least of Mr Durell's books are not now employed in the teaching of mathematics''.

He collaborated on books with masters from other schools, such as R. M. Wright of Eton, A. W. Siddons of

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England ** Harrow, London, a town in London ** Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) ...

, C. O. Tuckey of

Charterhouse Charterhouse may refer to: * Charterhouse (monastery), of the Carthusian religious order Charterhouse may also refer to: Places * The Charterhouse, Coventry, a former monastery * Charterhouse School, an English public school in Surrey London ...

, Alan Robson of Marlborough and G. W. Palmer of

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 155 ...

. Durell's books cover all areas of school mathematics, including

algebra Algebra () is one of the areas of mathematics, broad areas of mathematics. Roughly speaking, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols and the rules for manipulating these symbols in formulas; it is a unifying thread of almost all of mathem ...

calculus Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or "the calculus of infinitesimals", is the mathematics, mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape, and algebra is the study of generalizati ...

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects ...

geometry Geometry (; ) is, with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. It is concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is c ...

, and

trigonometry Trigonometry () is a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles. The field emerged in the Hellenistic world during the 3rd century BC from applications of geometry to astronomical studies. ...

, and include: *''Elementary Problem Papers'' (Arnold, London, 1906) *''Readable Relativity'' (G. Bell & Sons, 1926) *''The Teaching of Elementary Algebra'' (G. Bell & Sons, 1931) *''General Arithmetic'' (G. Bell & Sons, 1936) *''Elementary Geometry'' (G. Bell & Sons, 1948) First published 1925

References

Durell at the University of St Andrews web side
accessed June 2007 *''Durell, Clement Vavasor (1882–1968), mathematics teacher and textbook writer'' by Michael H. Price in ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' *''Clement Vavasor Durell'', obituary by E. A. Maxwell in ''Mathematical Gazette'', volume 53 (1969), pages 312–13 {{DEFAULTSORT:Durell, Clement Vavasor 1882 births 1968 deaths Schoolteachers from Cambridgeshire People educated at Felsted School Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Mathematics educators British textbook writers 20th-century English mathematicians People from Fulbourn People from East Preston, West Sussex