Philip Charles Durham was born in
Largo, Fife in 1763, the fourth child and third son of James Durham. His maternal grandmother was the diarist
Margaret Calderwood. He came from a wealthy landed family, and entered the navy aged fourteen in 1777 aboard the
ship of the line HMS Trident. His first year at sea was somewhat blighted when that ship came under the command of a martinet captain, Anthony James Pye Molloy, under whom the ship's company grew mutinous. In 1778 Durham procured his discharge and afterwards obtained a position under his original captain, on
HMS Edgar. Aboard her he saw his first action during the
Great Siege of Gibraltar, later gaining the attention of Admiral
Richard Kempenfelt, with whom he served on
HMS Victory and
HMS Royal George. Durham was watch officer on 29 August 1782 when, through no fault of his own, the
Royal George, which was heeled for repairs, suddenly and catastrophically sank at
Spithead. Being on deck, Durham was able to jump overboard and swim to safety, but the Admiral and over 800 persons lost their lives. Durham then filled a lieutenant's vacancy on
HMS Union in which he saw further service at the siege of Gibraltar before making a cruise to the West Indies and then another one down the African coast in
HMS Raisonnable as a junior lieutenant. Durham spent the next two years living in France, becoming fluent in French. Afterwards he served in HMS Salisbury and
HMS Barfleur. The emergency in 1790 brought him promotion to
Commander on 2 November 1790 and command of
HMS Daphne. From there he moved in 1791 to
HMS Cygnet. On 12 February 1793 Durham took command of the small sloop
HMS Spitfire.
Spitfire was pierced for 14 guns but only carried ten. The next day he captured the French privateer
Afrique. The capture of
Afrique was the first capture of the war of a vessel flying
La tricolore. For this feat
Lloyd's of London gave him a piece of plate worth 100
guineas, their first such award of the war. On 28 March 1799 he married Lady Charlotte Matilda Bruce, daughter of royal governess
Lady Elgin and sister of the
Lord Elgin of
Elgin Marbles fame, and continued his service in home waters until the
Peace of Amiens. Following the resumption of hostilities, Durham was given
HMS Defiance, which he took to join Admiral Sir
Robert Calder's fleet in 1804 and participated in the
battle of Cape Finisterre after which he was informally reprimanded by Calder for being "over zealous" in pursuit of the enemy. Following the battle Admiral Calder requested a court martial to acquit his own conduct and called Captain Durham to appear in his defence along with two other captains. Unlike his two comrades, Durham flatly refused to leave his ship which had been repaired at Portsmouth and specially requested by
Lord Nelson and so was still in command at the
Battle of Trafalgar a few months later. The other two captains,
William Brown and
William Lechmere commanding
HMS Ajax and
HMS Thunderer missed the battle whilst in England. At the
Battle of Trafalgar,
Defiance headed straight for the Spanish flagship
Principe de Asturias but was blocked by the , a captured British ship in French service. Deliberately ramming her opponent,
Defiance tore off most of the French ship's bow and devastatingly raked her before fighting a long gun duel with the battered
Aigle as the
Berwick wallowed in her wake (she sank after the battle). The
Defiance was unable to gain the upper hand against the
Aigle, and so a young master's mate named
Jack Spratt swam between the ships and leaped on board, fighting alone against the entire French crew until support could be given from his ship. The British crew then swarmed across the Frenchman and captured her. Durham was wounded in the battle. He took his battered ship (which had suffered 17 men killed 53 wounded)back to England, in time to give evidence at Calder's court-martial, became a banner bearer at Nelson's funeral. Following his recovery and receipt of the usual awards for a Trafalgar captain, Durham was transferred to
HMS Renown which he commanded in the
English Channel and the
Mediterranean until 1810 when he was made a Rear-Admiral. In 1814 he was given command of the
Leeward Islands Station and captured two enemy frigates on his way there in
HMS Venerable. He remained at this post until the end of the war in 1815 when the French West Indies surrendered to him. He was Knighted and created
Knight Commander (KCB). Following his first wife's death in 1816 he married, in 1817, wealthy
heiress Anne Isabella Henderson but this marriage was also childless. In 1819, was promoted to vice admiral He was on friendly terms with
King George III, who was especially fond of Durham's tall tales, often remarking "That's a Durham!" when he heard such a tale regardless of the
raconteur. In 1830 Durham became a full admiral and conferment as a
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 1 December. He was elected a
Member of Parliament for
Queenborough in 1830, though this was overturned on petition and he did not take his seat. He was elected for
Devizes in 1834. He became the naval
Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth (1836–1839) and was the second president (first naval president) of the
Army and Navy Club in
London. He added the names Henderson and Calderwood to his own on his second marriage and on inheriting his mother's family estate, respectively. Following his second wife's death in 1844, Durham journeyed to Rome on private business. Contracting bronchitis, he went to Naples intent on taking a ship back to Britain, but died there on 2 April 1845, his remains being returned to Largo for burial in the family vault. As his biographer
Hilary L. Rubinstein (who has also edited his naval papers, available to subscribers to the Navy Records Society) discovered, he had an illegitimate daughter, Ann Bower (1789/90 - 1858), but left no further descendants. ==Memorial at Largo church, East Fife==