Brigadier Geoffrey Durrant
Army veterinary officer who saved animals’ lives around the world and once operated on a leopard
BRIGADIER GEOFFREY DURRANT, who has died aged 91, had an adventurous career as a Veterinary Officer or VO, culminating in his appointment as Director, Army Veterinary and Remount Services.
Geoffrey Robert Durrant was born in Liverpool on February 24 1932 and educated at Calday Grange Grammar School on the Wirral. Although not from a farming background he took every opportunity to work with horses and cattle, on farms in Cheshire and Cornwall, before studying agricultural science at Harper Adams College, Shropshire. Having gained a diploma in farm management, he studied dairying at Nottingham University.
In 1955 he was commissioned into the Worcestershire Regiment for National Service. Seconded to the 3rd (Kenya) Battalion King’s African Rifles, he served as a platoon commander in Kenya. Unable to remain in the infantry because of his age, he joined Fisons fertilisers before taking a degree in veterinary science at Bristol University. He briefly practised as a vet in Dorset and Monmouth.
In 1966, he gained a regular commission in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps and he spent a year at the RAVC Training Centre at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. All the dogs and horses entering the Army normally passed through the centre, but cattle, pigs and sheep also came within his remit.
He then moved to the Far East as Senior VO, serving with the Gurkha Dog Company before commanding a unit of Chinese and Indian troops attached to the Singapore Guard Regiment. He was soon on tour visiting RAF stations in Singapore, Malaya and Gan in the Maldives, to examine the police dogs. The British garrison in Singapore was large and many families kept pets: the RAVC ran a clinic for them in after-duty hours.
One night, Durrant was called out to treat a Malayan leopard whose leg had been damaged in a trap. He decided that he would have to amputate, anaesthetising the animal using an ether-soaked cotton-wool pad attached to a long stick. Released from its cage halfway through the operation, it suddenly sat up and gave an enormous yawn. Durrant thought his last moment had come, but fortunately the operation was a success and the leopard enjoyed many years of life in a private zoo.
In 1971 Durrant was posted to Oman on attachment to 22 SAS Regiment during the Dhofar rebellion. He treated a camel with an injured leg, but when he returned the next day, “the camel was nowhere to be seen,” he recalled, “except for [its] bandaged leg lying forlornly in the sand.” He suspected that local people had been unable to resist the temptation of a camel-meat supper.
In a rough environment disorganised by conflict, Durrant set out to improve animal husbandry by establishing dispensaries in the hills and desert villages. Loading cattle on to dhows by manhandling them from rafts in a choppy sea was an experience that he never wished to repeat.
On another occasion, he was flown by helicopter to a mountain position recently been taken by British forces. The local headman met him and led him to his best cow, a magnificent animal which had been attempting to calve for several days. Durrant had no equipment with him but the soldiers produced a penknife, a length of parachute cord and a tin of cooking oil.
The prognosis, he said afterwards, was grave. Under any other circumstances he would have shot the animal, but one of the main planks of his propaganda campaign was that liberated areas would receive effective medical and veterinary aid. Moreover, the consequences of shooting the cow while surrounded by armed tribesmen of uncertain allegiance were unpredictable.
Two hours later, Durrant and his colleagues pulled the calf clear. The cow jumped up and began grazing. The owner and his followers danced about with delight.
Durrant was VO with the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, before returning to Hong Kong in 1975 as deputy assistant director, AVRS. The British garrison was largely manned by troops drawn from the Brigade of Gurkhas. The punctiliousness with which the Gurkha soldier carries out his duties is legendary.
One cold winter’s day, Durrant was called out to a battalion livestock holding where some piglets had been taken ill. They were lying shivering on a concrete floor and looked thoroughly miserable. Durrant diagnosed footand-mouth disease and told the sergeant-major that bedding must be provided: “The pig loves comfort as much as the human.” He returned the next day to find a row of young pigs blissfully tucked up in bedclothes.
Durrant made many trips to Nepal to advise on Gurkha resettlement. Long years of military service meant that Gurkhas lost touch with agricultural skills, and the Army set up resettlement training farms at the depots, Durrant advising on all aspects of animal management.
After a staff appointment at the MOD with the AVRS, in 1980 he commanded Army Veterinary Services in Northern Ireland, where he enjoyed the hospitality of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and, subsequently, the Cheshire Regiment.
Further postings took him to Hong Kong again and then, in 1984, to HQ BAOR as Commander Veterinary Services. In 1987 he was promoted to brigadier and appointed Director AVRS and Queen’s Honorary Veterinary Surgeon based at the HQ in Aldershot. This was an exacting posting of nearly four years in which arrangements were completed for dog training for all three services.
Durrant retired from the Army in 1990; he was extended as Queen’s Honorary Veterinary Surgeon from that year until 1994, and was the Hon Colonel Commandant, RAVC. He was appointed MBE in 1973 and advanced to CBE in 1991.
He remained active in retirement. Among other calls on his services, he was a practising vet – helping in the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak – and a university lecturer. In the latter appointment, his field of study was the impact of modern farming methods on the environment and the sustainability of soil in the UK into the 21st century.
Geoffrey Durrant married, in 1967, Lesley Veronica Wood, daughter of Wing Commander KJ Wood.
A constant support, she survives him with their two sons, both of whom served as Regular Army officers.
Geoffrey Durrant, born February 24 1932, died May 11 2023