Richard Durnford Jr. (28 June 1843 – 10 January 1934) was a British

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He served as Secretary to the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales from 1891 to 1908.

Early life and education

Richard Durnford Jr. was born on 28 June 1843 in

Hartley Wespall Hartley Wespall is a village and civil parish in the Basingstoke and Deane district of Hampshire, England. It is near the larger village of Hook, which lies approximately 2.5 miles (4.1 km) south-west from the hamlet. St.Mary Church is fl ...

House,

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

, Hampshire,

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Richard Durnford Richard Durnford (3 November 1802 – 14 October 1895) was the Bishop of Chichester from 1870 to 1895. Biography He was born in Newbury, Berkshire, into an ecclesiastical family (his father was also named Richard Dunford). He was educated at Et ...

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

, and Emma Durnford. Durnford attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and won a scholarship to study

Classical Tripos The Classical Tripos is the taught course in classics at the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. It is equivalent to '' Literae Humaniores'' at Oxford University. It is traditionally a three-year degree, but for those who have not previ ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

matriculating Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...

in 1861. Durnford earned his B.A. in 1865 ( first-class), winning the Camden Medal for

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

composition. Durnford obtained an M.A in 1868 and was a Fellow of King's College from 1866 to 1885. Durnford was admitted to the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

on 20 January 1866 and was called to the

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in 1869.

Career

Durnford served as Private Secretary to the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

Lord President of the Council The Lord President of the Council is the presiding officer of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom and the fourth of the Great Officers of State, ranking below the Lord High Treasurer but above the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal. The Lor ...

, from 1875 to 1877, leaving to become the Assistant Commissioner to Charity Commissioners of England and Wales. On 26 March 1891, Durnford was re-appointed Assistant Commissioner to the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales. In 1893, Durnford was mentioned in a Question to the Parliamentary

Charity Commissioner Charities Commission or Charity Commission may refer to: * Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission * Charities Commission (New Zealand), the former name of Charities Services * Charity Commission for England and Wales, the non-minister ...

for writing a biased report. On 5 March 1900, Durnford was promoted and took the position of Secretary to the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales. Durnford retired on 14 July 1908 and was replaced by Thomas Bowyear as Secretary to the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales. Before his retirement, Durnford was made a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregi ...

in the

1908 Birthday Honours The 1908 Birthday Honours for the British Empire were announced on 28 June, to celebrate the birthday of Edward VII. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and arranged by honour, with classes (K ...

on 26 June 1908.

Later life and death

Durnford served as justice of the peace for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and continued serving on the bench to his 80s. Durnford died on 10 January 1934 in

House,

, Hampshire,

. At the time of his death, he was believed to be the oldest living Etonian. Durnford was buried in St Mary's Church,

Personal life

Durnford married Beatrice Mary Durnford () in 1884

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. They had six children, Captain Richard Selby Durnford (1885 – 31 July 1915), Hugh George Edmund Durnford (1886 – 6 June 1965), Violet Mary Durnford (1 April 1890 – 3 May 1982), Vice-Admiral John Walter Durnford (25 October 1891 – 7 February 1967) Beatrice Emma Durnford (1893 – 5 December 1955) and Robert Chichester Durnford (born 1886 – 21 June 1918). Captain Richard Selby Durnford was killed in action in Hooge,

Flanders Fields Flanders Fields is a common English name of the World War I battlefields in an area straddling the Belgian provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders as well as the French department of Nord, part of which makes up the area known as French Flan ...

on 31 July 1915 aged 30 and Captain Robert Chichester was killed in action in

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on 21 June June 1918 aged 22. They are commemorated in the memorials at St Mary's Church,

and

. Durnford wrote a poem, (everything for country, nothing for himself) in his sons' memory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durnford Jr., Richard 1843 births 1934 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Fellows of King's College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple 19th-century British civil servants 20th-century_British_civil_servants Companions of the Order of the Bath