Durrell family

The Durrell family was a twentieth-century Anglo-Indian family whose history spanned British India, England, the Greek island of Corfu, and other parts of Europe and Africa. The family became widely known through the autobiographical and semi-fictional writings of two brothers, Lawrence Durrell and Gerald Durrell, while other members also developed distinct public identities and contributed to the family story. The family’s first generation in the documented line consisted of Lawrence Samuel Durrell, a civil engineer, and Louisa Florence Dixie. Both were born in India during the period of the British Raj and belonged to families with several generations of connection to the subcontinent. They married in Roorkee in 1910. Lawrence Samuel worked on railway and construction projects in northeastern India and later established the engineering business Durrell & Co. in Jamshedpur. Their children included the writer and diplomat Lawrence George Durrell, Leslie Stuart Durrell, Margaret Isabel Mabel Durrell, better known as Margo, and Gerald Malcolm Durrell. Another daughter, Margery, died in infancy. After Lawrence Samuel died in 1928, Louisa and her surviving younger children moved to the United Kingdom, while Lawrence George had already been sent there for education. In 1935, Louisa, Margo, Leslie, and Gerald relocated to Corfu. The family remained on the island until 1939, when the approach of the Second World War led most of them to return to England. The Corfu years became the central cultural image associated with the family. Gerald Durrell later transformed his childhood experiences into a series of humorous and partly fictionalized autobiographical books, including My Family and Other Animals, Birds, Beasts and Relatives, and The Garden of the Gods. His accounts presented Louisa, Lawrence, Leslie, Margo, and himself as an eccentric household surrounded by animals, local characters, and the landscapes of Corfu. Lawrence Durrell also drew on the island in Prospero’s Cell, a literary travel book assembled from diaries and notebooks concerning Corfu and its people, landscapes, and customs. The family’s literary importance extends beyond the shared Corfu narrative. Lawrence Durrell became an internationally recognized novelist, poet, and diplomat, best known for The Alexandria Quartet and for a broader body of travel and literary writing. Gerald became a naturalist, conservationist, broadcaster, and best-selling author. His work helped popularize the idea that zoos should focus on the protection and breeding of endangered species rather than merely displaying large collections of animals. He later founded the organization that became the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. Margo Durrell documented another aspect of the family’s life in Whatever Happened to Margo?, a memoir describing her experiences as a single mother, boarding-house keeper, and member of the Durrell family. Leslie, who was portrayed in Gerald’s Corfu books as being interested in firearms and shooting, led a more troubled and private life. He worked in a range of occupations, lived for periods in Kenya and England, and wrote an unpublished children’s book. The Durrell family’s cultural profile expanded through television and documentary adaptations. The family’s writings inspired the television series My Family and Other Animals in 1987, a television film of the same title in 2005, and the television series The Durrells, broadcast from 2016 to 2019. The latter was a substantially dramatized interpretation rather than a literal historical record. The documentary What the Durrells Did Next further explored the later lives and work of the family members. As a result, the Durrell name functions less as a commercial brand than as a recognizable literary and media identity associated with family memoir, Corfu, natural history, and conservation.

The Durrell family’s documented history begins with Lawrence Samuel Durrell and Louisa Florence Dixie, both members of families established in India during the British Raj. Lawrence Samuel was born in Dum Dum in Bengal in 1884 and worked as a civil engineer on railway and construction projects. He eventually founded the engineering firm Durrell & Co. in Jamshedpur. Louisa was born in Roorkee in 1886, where her father worked at the Ganges Canal Foundry. She met Lawrence Samuel while he was studying civil engineering in Roorkee, and they married there in November 1910. Their children were born in different parts of British India. Lawrence George was born in Jalandhar in 1912 and later became a writer and diplomat. Margery was born in 1915 and died of diphtheria in infancy. Leslie was born in Mymensingh in 1917, Margo in Kurseong in 1919, and Gerald in Jamshedpur in 1925. The family’s Indian origins were important to its later identity: both parents and several earlier ancestors had been born on the subcontinent, making the children part of a multi-generational Anglo-Indian community. Lawrence Samuel died in 1928 in Dalhousie. After his death, Louisa moved to the United Kingdom with the three younger surviving children, while Lawrence George had already been sent to Britain for schooling. In 1935, Louisa took the family to Corfu. The move created the setting that later defined the family’s public image. The household’s years on the island, lasting until the summer of 1939, were remembered through Gerald’s autobiographical Corfu trilogy and related short stories. Gerald’s narrative voice combined family recollection, comic characterization, and natural-history observation, while acknowledging the freedom of memoir to reshape events. Lawrence George also used Corfu as a literary subject. His Prospero’s Cell, published in 1945, drew primarily on diaries and notebooks from 1937 and 1938 and presented the island through travel writing, landscape description, and cultural reflection. His later career was broader and more cosmopolitan: he became known for novels, poetry, travel books, and diplomatic service, with The Alexandria Quartet becoming his most famous literary achievement. The outbreak of the Second World War ended the family’s life on Corfu for the time being. Most members returned to England. Margo’s later life included marriage, motherhood, wartime travel, divorce, and the operation of a boarding house in Bournemouth. She eventually recorded these experiences in Whatever Happened to Margo?, a memoir published in 1995. Leslie’s adult life was less publicly successful and included work in England and Kenya, a marriage to Doris Hall, and periods of financial and occupational difficulty. He wrote a children’s book, Where the Rivers Meet, which remained unpublished. Gerald developed the family’s strongest connection with wildlife and conservation. His enthusiasm for animals, first made vivid in the Corfu books, became a professional vocation. He wrote popular natural-history books, appeared in television programs, and promoted a conservation-centered model of zoological practice. He founded the organization that became the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, which was named in his honor and continued his emphasis on protecting endangered species through captive breeding, field conservation, and public education. His second wife, Lee McGeorge, also became an author, naturalist, and honorary director of the trust. The Durrell family’s reputation was substantially renewed by screen adaptations. My Family and Other Animals appeared as a television series in 1987, followed by a television film in 2005. The Durrells, broadcast between 2016 and 2019, introduced the family story to a new international audience but took considerable dramatic liberties. A later documentary, What the Durrells Did Next, examined the family’s subsequent lives and careers. Across these forms, the family came to represent a distinctive combination of colonial-era Indian background, English family memoir, Corfu’s landscape, literary achievement, and wildlife conservation.

• 2019

  The Durrells concludes

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  The television series completed its run after presenting the family story to a new generation of viewers.

• 2016

  The Durrells begins broadcast

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  The four-season television drama began a fictionalized retelling of the family’s years on Corfu.

• 2005

  Television film adaptation released

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  A television film based on My Family and Other Animals renewed screen interest in the Durrell family’s Corfu story.

• 1995

  Whatever Happened to Margo? published

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  Margo Durrell’s memoir presented her own account of family life, motherhood, and running a boarding house.

• 1987

  First television adaptation of My Family and Other Animals

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  Gerald Durrell’s Corfu memoir was adapted into a television series, broadening the family’s public recognition beyond readers of the books.

• 1945

  Prospero’s Cell published

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  Lawrence Durrell published a literary travel account of Corfu based largely on diaries and notebooks from the family’s years on the island.

• 1939

  The Corfu period ends

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  The impending outbreak of the Second World War forced most of the family to leave Corfu and return to England.

• 1935

  The family moves to Corfu

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  Louisa and the younger Durrell children moved to Corfu, beginning the period later made famous in Gerald Durrell’s autobiographical writing.

• 1928

  Death of Lawrence Samuel Durrell

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  Lawrence Samuel’s death led Louisa and the younger children to relocate from India to the United Kingdom.

• 1910

  Lawrence Samuel Durrell and Louisa Florence Dixie marry

  [1]Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org

  The couple married at St John the Baptist Church in Roorkee, India, establishing the immediate family line later associated with the Durrell name.

A literary and cultural family identity associated with Anglo-Indian history, autobiographical storytelling, the landscapes of Corfu, natural-history writing, and modern wildlife conservation.

• Autobiographical book

  My Family and Other Animals

  Gerald Durrell’s best-known account of the family’s life on Corfu. The book combines family portraiture, comic episodes, descriptions of the island, and observations of animals. It is autobiographical in foundation but shaped by literary selection and fictionalization.

• Literary fiction

  The Alexandria Quartet

  Lawrence Durrell’s internationally recognized four-novel sequence set primarily in Alexandria. Although it is not a direct account of the family, it is the principal work associated with Lawrence’s independent literary reputation.

• Travel writing · 1945

  Prospero’s Cell

  Lawrence Durrell’s literary guide to Corfu, developed from diaries and notebooks created during the family’s residence there. The book blends landscape writing, cultural observation, and personal recollection.

• Memoir · 1995

  Whatever Happened to Margo?

  Margo Durrell’s memoir of her experiences as a member of the Durrell family, a mother, and a Bournemouth boarding-house keeper. It provides a perspective distinct from the better-known Corfu narratives of her brothers.

• Television drama · 2016

  The Durrells

  A television series broadcast from 2016 to 2019 and inspired by Gerald Durrell’s Corfu memoirs. The program uses the family’s real names and broad circumstances but substantially fictionalizes events, dialogue, chronology, and characterization.

• Wildlife conservation organization

  Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

  The conservation organization founded by Gerald Durrell. It reflects his effort to reshape the modern zoo around endangered-species protection, captive breeding, field conservation, and education.

1. 1Durrell familyen.wikipedia.org