DURAND, Havilland Montague
| Service Number: | 720 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 September 1914, G Company Rosebery Park Camp, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Earley Vicarage near Reading, England, 21 December 1883 |
| Home Town: | Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Durham University & Elizabeth College, Guernsey |
| Occupation: | Schoolmaster & priest |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 27 April 1915, aged 31 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" No known grave |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 720, 13th Infantry Battalion, G Company Rosebery Park Camp, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Dec 1914: | Involvement Private, 720, 13th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Dec 1914: | Embarked Private, 720, 13th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 27 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 720, 13th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli |
Story & photo of Havilland
https://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/roll/register/
Private Havilland Montague Durand
Havilland Montague Durand was born on 21 December 1883 at Earley vicarage near Reading. His father, also Havilland Durand, was vicar there for 13 years, and died shortly afterwards in 1884. Havilland was the seventh and last child and was then brought up by his widowed mother Mary in St Peter Port and then Moulin Huet in Guernsey. Havilland was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and then University College, Durham where he matriculated in Michaelmas term 1902. He passed his first year Arts exams in Easter term 1903 and his finals in Easter term 1904. He took his BA degree on 21 June 1904, and his M.A. on 25 June 1907. He rowed bow in the University College Senate Cup winning crews of both 1904 and 1905, having stayed on after graduation as secretary of the Students Representative Council (forerunner of the present DSU). He served for 2 years in the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He then emigrated to Australia, travelling from London in September 1911 to Brisbane, where he settled as a teacher. He volunteered as a Private on the outbreak of war and joined the Australian Imperial Force on 4 September 1914. He was posted to the newly formed 13th Battalion on 22 September. He embarked for Egypt with his battalion at Melbourne on 22 December 1914 on H.M.A.T. Ulysses. As part of 4th Brigade of the New Zealand and Australian Division 13th Battalion spent the winter training in the Cairo area. The Battalion sailed from Alexandria on 13 April and arrived off Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula at 4.30 p.m. on the afternoon of 25 April 1915. A, B and C Companies disembarked under fire at 9.30 p.m. that evening, D Company landing at 3.30 a.m. the next morning. The battalion took up positions on Pope’s Hill and Quinn’s Hill at the head of Monash Valley at 5.00 a.m. By 27 April his company was running short of ammunition and Durand volunteered to go back down Monash Valley to the beach to fetch more. Both the gully and the beach were under heavy Turkish fire. He managed to get back with the ammunition but seems to have been killed either later that day or during the next. His service record established the date of death as 27 April however. His captain wrote “he had done his duty and saved our line. I have to mention that he was loved by officers and men alike. He was selected and especially trained for a battalionn Scout, work that always required a lot of intelligence and tact. The Colonel assured me that if Durand had not arrived with the ammunition, his comrades who were in an isolated position, would have been annihilated and our line would have been broken”. His effects included a rosary, a French book and a sketch book. He was buried by his comrades on a hill at Gaba Tepe with a cross above his grave. The grave was lost in the fighting and he is now commemorated in the Lone Pine Memorial in Turkey. His eldest brother, Francis William Durand, had been killed in France on 22 December 1914.
The image is a detail from a team portrait of the University College Four Senate Cup [winners] in 1905, in which H. M. Durand rowed bow (Ref: UND/F1/FB1905S).
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Submitted 28 April 2018 by Elizabeth Allen
Biography contributed by Sharyn Roberts
Havilland Montague DURAND was born on 21st December, 1883 in the Earley Vicarage near Reading, England
His parents were Havilland DURAND and Mary HAWTREY who married in 1871 - he was one of 7 children - his father died in 1884
He had previous service with the 5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry for 2 years before he came to Australia and worked as a Schoolmaster in Brisbane Grammar School in Queensland
He enlisted at Rosebery Park Camp in NSW on 12th September, 1914 and embarked from Melbourne on 22nd December, 1914 with the 13th Infantry Battalion, G Company on the ship HMAT Ulysses
Havilland was Killed in Action at Gallipoli on 27th April, 1915 & buried by his comrades but the grave was lost - his name is memorialised on the Lone Pine Memorial, Australian War Memorial, Durham University Roll of Service & St Martin War Memorial in Guernsey, Channel Islands
He was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal & the Victory Medal
His brother Francis William DURAND of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers was also Killed in Action on 22nd December, 1914 in Givenchy, France (UK Regiment) which was the same day that Havilland set sail from Australia to serve in WW1 - at the time he would have been unaware that his brother had died
MAY THEY REST IN PEACE
Biography contributed by Geoffrey Gillon
He was 31 and the youngest son of the late Rev. Havilland Durand, for 13 years Vicar of Earley, Berkshire (died 1884), by his wife, Mary (Moulin Bud, Guernsey), daughter of the Rev. Montague John Gregg Hawtrey.
Emigrated to Australia in Sept. 1911, and settled at Brisbane, where he was engaged in teaching.
Volunteered on the outbreak of the war and joined the Commonwealth Expeditionary Force, embarking for France 4 September 1914.
Brother of Grace D. Durand, of Moulin Huet, Geurnsey.
Embarked for Egypt In Jan.uary and was killed in action two days after the landing at Gallipoli, 25 April. 1911.
His Captain wrote : "His comrades, having expended nearly all their ammunition, volunteers were asked for, to go to the beach for more; it was necessary to proceed down a fire-swept gully, then on to a shell-swept beach, and return. Havilland volunteered to do this. He got to the beach and returned by way of the gully again. He had done his duty and saved our line. I should like to mention that he was loved by officers and men alike. He was selected and especially trained for a battn. scout, work that always requires a lot of intelligence and tact. The Colonel assured me that if Durand had not arrived with the ammunition his comrades, who were in an isolated position, would have been annihilated and our line would have been broken." He was supposed to have been killed after bringing up the ammunition, but another letter gave the information that he was killed the day after, whilst working in the trench. He was buried by his comrades on a hill at Gaba Tepe, and a rough wooden cross marks the place where he lies. Another letter said : "The landing must have been awful, and all who lived, if only for a day, did heroic work, as the few remaining officers say each man deserved a V.C. The Australians were simply magnificent"
He and his brother Captain Francis William Durand, who also fell, are honoured on the Guernsey-St Martin's War Memorial on Guernsey.
The memorial takes the form of a simple Latin cross on a plain obelisk standing on a plinth with a three stepped base and is located in the garden of the Salles Paroissiales.
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