Biography

Educated at University College School, London from 1883–1884, King’s College, Cambridge from 1884, and Guy’s Hospital, London, in 1904 Durham was awarded a John Lucas Walker Studentship in Pathology, a Cambridge scholarship for original pathological research. Durham worked at the Hygiene Institute, Vienna (1895-1896) where he was associated with Max von Grueber's discovery of bacteria agglutination and in 1897 Durham developed a process for the diagnosis of typhoid fever and invented 'Durham tubes' for measuring the amount of gas in a bacteria colony. A member (1896-1898) of Tsetse Fly Disease Committee of the Royal Society, Durham joined the Yellow Fever Expedition to Brazil (1900-1901) and later investigated beriberi in the Malay Peninsula and on Christmas Island, in an expedition organised by London School of Tropical Medicine, introducing Derris as an insecticide from Malaya. In 1905 Durham concluded his clinical research due to deteriorating eyesight and studied fermentation for the cider manufacturer HP Bulmer and Compan, isolating wild yeast to ensure consistent fermentation, allowing the company to develop commercial production of cider. He served as Hon. Lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps and Major in the Special List in World War One. Durham was an Associate of the Royal Society of Photography and exhibited in 1927.

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