Jacqueline Sonia Durrell (née Wolfenden; born 17 November 1929 in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, United Kingdom) is a British author. Born Jacquie Wolfenden, she married naturalist

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell Order of the British Empire, OBE (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservation movement, conservationist, and television presenter. He was born in Jamshedpur in British Ind ...

and worked alongside him for many years. She assisted him on several of his animal collecting expeditions and at

Jersey Zoo Jersey Zoo (formerly Durrell Wildlife Park) is a zoological park established in 1959 on the island of Jersey in the English Channel by naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. It is operated by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. In 2023, th ...

, which he founded. The Durrells divorced in 1979.

Marriage to Gerald Durrell

She was born Jacqueline Sonia Wolfenden. Jacquie was 19 when she met Gerald Durrell, during his first stay in her father's hotel in

after an animal-collecting expedition. The two began dating, although initially Jacquie claimed that she was very reluctant to become Durrell's

girlfriend A girlfriend is a woman who is a friend, acquaintance or partner to the speaker, usually a female companion with whom one is platonically, romantically, or sexually involved. In a romantic context, this normally signifies a committed r ...

. Jacquie's father did not approve of her relationship with Durrell, and was completely antipathetic towards the idea of the couple's

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, chiefly because he considered that Durrell had no money and apparently no career prospects. Jacquie could not marry without her parents' permission until she was 21, so after her 21st birthday, she and Durrell

eloped Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. A ...

and married in

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

on 26 February 1951. Gerald Durrell's mother, sister

Margaret Durrell Margaret Isabel Mabel "Margo" Durrell (4 May 1919 – 16 January 2007) was the younger sister of novelist Lawrence Durrell and elder sister of naturalist, author, and TV presenter Gerald Durrell, who lampoons her character in his Corfu trilo ...

and brother Leslie Durrell helped to organise and attended the

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

and subsequent party. In marrying Durrell, Jacquie gave up her potential career as an

opera singer Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a lib ...

for which she had been in training since the age of 17. She also gave up her relationship with her father – after her elopement, she never spoke to any of her relatives again. After their marriage, lack of money prevented Jacquie and Gerald from renting a place of their own, and so they lived in a cramped bedsitter in the Bournemouth

guest house A guest house (or guesthouse, also rest house) is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world (such as the Caribbean), a guest house is a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging. In others, it is a private home that has been converted for the e ...

owned and run by Durrell's sister Margaret Durrell, who offered them the place rent-free. Despite her initial trepidation, Jacquie was completely accepted by and liked all members of the Durrell family, including famous author

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial pa ...

, a meeting with whom she describes in ''Beasts in My Bed''. Jacquie, together with

, encouraged Gerald to write books about his animal-collecting expeditions, in order to make money to fund both their everyday lives and new expeditions. In Gerald Durrell's autobiographical books, Jacquie is typically portrayed as a supportive spouse, who is not squeamish with or perturbed by animals. Jacquie also helped run

and found the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust (now the

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the dodo as its symbol. Th ...

), though she never held any official post. She was also the central figure in organising one of the expeditions to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, her role in which is described in Gerald Durrell's '' The Whispering Land''. Jacquie was popular with the Jersey Zoo staff and affectionately known as "Mrs. D". Despite her support for her husband's work, she was occasionally overwhelmed by Durrell's total devotion to it, and felt that the zoo took over their lives and left them with no free space to develop their own relationship.Jacquie Durrell, ''Beasts in My Bed'', Fontana, 1975, p. 177. Jacquie featured in three

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

presented by Gerald Durrell: ''To Bafut With Beagles'', BBC (1958), ''Look'' (Argentinian Expedition), single episode of series, BBC (1961) and ''Two in the Bush'', BBC (1963). She separated from and divorced Gerald Durrell in 1979, citing his increasing work pressure, and associated

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

Books

Jacquie Durrell is the author of two autobiographical accounts concerning her life with Gerald Durrell, ''Beasts in My Bed'' (footnotes by Gerald Durrell) ( Collins, 1967), and ''Intimate Relations'' (Collins, 1976). Both of her books are written in the same humorous, light-hearted tone as her husband's own accounts. They have a

dry wit Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be bl ...

and humour, and ''Beasts in My Bed'' also features (often deliberately contradictory)

footnotes In publishing, a note is a brief text in which the author comments on the subject and themes of the book and names supporting citations. In the editorial production of books and documents, typographically, a note is usually several lines of t ...

by Gerald Durrell. Her books have been translated into several languages, including

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, Dutch, Hungarian and Latvian. Jacquie Durrell went on a number of animal collecting expeditions with Gerald Durrell and, in addition to describing these in her own books, her participation is featured in a number of Durrell's books, including: *

(1954, 1958) (''The Drunken Forest'', ''The Whispering Land'') *

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

(1957) (''A Zoo in My Luggage'' – an account of her meeting with the Fon of Bafut Achirimbi II is described here) *

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

(1961) (''Two in the Bush'') *

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

(1966) (''Catch Me a Colobus'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durrell, Jacquie Living people English biographers 1929 births Jacquie