Person: Durell, Clement Vavasor

Clement V Durell was an English schoolmaster famous for his mathematical textbooks.

Clement was born in the rectory at Fulbourn, the fifth of his parents sons.
Durell was educated at Felsted School and, while still at school, he published his first note in the Mathematical Gazette, the journal of the Mathematical Association.
Durell joined the Mathematical Association in 1900, the year in which he entered Clare College, Cambridge, to study mathematics.
Soon after taking up this post Durell's first textbook Elementary Problem Papers (1906) was published.
Rather than list all the many works that Durell produced, we prefer to take a closer look at two of them.
A Book For Non-Specialists which Durell first published with G Bell & Sons in 1926.
It is worth noting that the first text in English on relativity was by Eddington in 1923 so Durell's text came very early.
This edition of the book contains a Preface written by Freeman J Dyson who was a former pupil of Durell.
For the second of our more detailed looks at one of Durell's texts let us consider Advanced Trigonometry which was also originally published by G Bell & Sons.
This work was a collaboration of Durell and Alan Robson who taught at Marlborough College and was a major figure in the Mathematical Association.
In contrast to his great success as a teacher and as a textbook writer, Durell did not excel in the role of housemaster.
Not only did Durell resume writing articles for the journal of the Mathematical Association but he also began to take an active part its work.

Born 6 June 1882, Fulbourn, near Cambridge, England. Died 10 December 1968, South Africa.

View full biography at MacTutor

Origin England

Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0!

O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive