The Durrell family was an English family, two of whose members were best-selling writers. It has been the subject of several autobiographies, the TV series ''

My Family and Other Animals ''My Family and Other Animals'' (1956) is an autobiographical book by British naturalist Gerald Durrell. It tells in an exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised way of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed mother on ...

'' (1987), the television film ''

'' (2005), the largely fictionalized TV series ''

The Durrells ''The Durrells'' (known in North America as ''The Durrells in Corfu'') is a British comedy-drama television series loosely based on Gerald Durrell's three autobiographical books about his family's four years (1935–1939) on the Greek island of ...

'' (2016–2019), and the documentary '' What the Durrells Did Next''.

Family members

The family was founded by Lawrence Samuel Durrell (1884–1928), an Anglo-Indian engineer, and his wife

Louisa Durrell Louisa Florence Durrell (née Dixie; 16 January 1886 – 24 January 1964), was an Anglo-Irish woman born in India during the British Raj. She was the mother of Lawrence and Gerald Durrell. She was featured in Gerald Durrell's autobiographic ...

(1886–1964). Their children were: *

Lawrence Durrell Lawrence George Durrell (; 27 February 1912 – 7 November 1990) was an expatriate British novelist, poet, dramatist, and travel writer. He was the eldest brother of naturalist and writer Gerald Durrell. Born in India to British colonial p ...

(1912–1990), a diplomat and writer, best known for writing ''

The Alexandria Quartet ''The Alexandria Quartet'' is a tetralogy of novels by British writer Lawrence Durrell, published between 1957 and 1960. A critical and commercial success, the first three books present three perspectives on a single set of events and characters ...

'', in addition to travel literature. * Margery Durrell (1915–1916); died in infancy from

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

. * Leslie Durrell (1917–1982), described in Gerald Durrell's

Corfu trilogy The Corfu trilogy is the unofficial name for three autobiographical books by British naturalist Gerald Durrell, giving humorous, exaggerated and sometimes fictionalised stories of the years that he lived as a child with his siblings and widowed moth ...

as having an interest in guns, hunting, and sailing, and according to his sister's book ''Whatever Happened to Margo?'', was interested in painting. *

Margaret Durrell Margaret Isabel Mabel "Margo" Durrell (4 May 1919 — 16 January 2007) was the younger sister of novelist Lawrence Durrell and elder sister of naturalist, author, and TV presenter Gerald Durrell, who lampoons her character in his Corfu trilogy ...

(1919–2007), ran a boarding house in Bournemouth. Her account of that experience, ''Whatever Happened to Margo?'', was published in 1995, about 40 years after she wrote it. *

Gerald Durrell Gerald Malcolm Durrell, (7 January 1925 – 30 January 1995) was a British naturalist, writer, zookeeper, conservationist, and television presenter. He founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Jersey Zoo on the Channel Island o ...

(1925–1995), a popular naturalist, best-selling writer, television host and conservationist, credited with redefining the modern

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

. Founder of the

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust is a conservation organization with a mission to save species from extinction. Gerald Durrell founded the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust as a charitable institution in 1963 with the dodo as its symbol. T ...

. ** His first wife,

Jacquie Durrell Jacqueline Sonia Durrell (née Wolfenden; born 17 November 1929 in Manchester, United Kingdom) is a British author. Born Jacquie Wolfenden, she married naturalist Gerald Durrell and worked alongside him for many years. She assisted him on several ...

(b. 1929), author, naturalist and television host ** His second wife,

Lee McGeorge Durrell Lee McGeorge Durrell (née McGeorge; born September 7, 1949) is an American naturalist, author, zookeeper, and television presenter. She is best known for her work at the Jersey Zoological Park in the British Channel Island of Jersey with h ...

(b. 1949), author, naturalist and Honorary Director of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust Lawrence Samuel Durrell, Louisa Durrell and their children were all born in India during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. Following Lawrence Samuel Durrell's death in 1928, Mrs Durrell and her three younger children moved to the United Kingdom, where Lawrence had already been sent to be educated. In 1935, the Durrells moved to the Greek island of Corfu. They remained there until the summer of 1939, when the impending outbreak of World War II forced most of them to return to England. Gerald's autobiographical Corfu trilogy and several short stories record the family's time in Corfu, albeit in a somewhat fictional way.

References

{{Gerald Durrell *Family English families Literary families