172 OBITUARY NOTICES.
he often lectured on Bees and Beekeeping. He was also engaged by the
Technical Instruction Committees of Essex, Suffolk and Yorkshire for the
same work. He took an active part in the management of the Chelmsford
Museum as secretary, and established there a series of lectures in connection
with the University Extension movement. When the Essex Field Club made
the attempt to re-establish the Museum on a scientific basis he acted as
Librarian, and did all in his power to promote the welfare of the institution.
But the deadly apathy of the town in such matters doomed the scheme to
failure from the very beginning, and the Field Club was compelled to move
its head-quarters to a more promising sphere of work. Mr. Durrant always
took great interest in the Club and in the Essex Archaeological Society, and
he was a frequent attendant at their meetings when held in his part of the
county.
In 1892 he established the Essex Review, which has been so ably edited
from its commencement by our Vice President, Mr. E. A. Fitch, but which
owed much of its early success to the energy and enthusiasm which Durrant
threw into the work. He frequently contributed to it, and was always active
in securing local matter for the enrichment of its pages. The whole pecuniary
liability of this venture also rested with him. It is pleasant to know that
both his pet hobbies will be continued on the lines he laid down. The "Odde
Volumes" still flourish, and the Review will be continued under its present
directors as a limited liability company.
Mr. Durrant was a consistent churchman, a synodsman of the parish
church, an active member of the Ruridecanal Conference, and for the last few
years one of the lay representatives of the Chelmsford Deanery at the
Diocesan Conference. He was one of the managers of the Victoria Schools,
and helped to found the present Church of England Institute at Chelmsford.
In short, all good movements found in him a fervent partisan, but curiously
enough he took no active part in municipal matters—it was the intellectual
and educational phase of life which attracted him.
Durrant was a voracious reader, and in his little study, which his friends
knew so well, he surrounded himself with many choice books and a very fine
set of works relating to the history and productions of the County. It is
rumoured that these have been left in trust for the benefit of his native town,
when one of his aspirations, a public library, shall have been realised. His
personal appearance was curiously clerical, with the slight stoop of the
student, and utter absence of ostentation, and with every indication of a
quiet, reserved, but withal amiable and courteous disposition. He lived in
Chelmsford in philistine times, but it is to be hoped that one day some of his
ideals may be reached; meanwhile the town has lost a familiar figure, a
kindly friend, and a worker whose energies it will be difficult to replace.
For the loan cf the characteristic portrait, from which our plate is taken,
we are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. J. H. Nicholas.