Louisa Florence Durrell (née Dixie; 16 January 1886 – 24 January 1964), was an Anglo-Irish woman born in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

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 ...

. She was the mother of

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

and

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 ...

. She was featured in Gerald Durrell's autobiographical

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 ...

, which tells about the Durrells' years in Corfu from 1935 to 1939 in a somewhat fictionalized way.

Biography

Louisa Florence Dixie was born in 1886 to an Anglo-Irish

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

family in Roorkee,

, where her family were colonials in the years of the British Raj. Her father, George Dixie, was the head clerk and accountant of the Ganges Canal Foundry. In India, she met and married Lawrence Samuel Durrell, an English engineer also born in India. Together, they travelled all over India for Lawrence's engineering work. They had three sons and two daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Their second child, Margery Ruth, was born in November 1915 and died 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 ...

in April 1916. The surviving children were

(Larry), Leslie, Margaret (Margo), and

Gerald Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iris ...

(Gerry). Louisa was described as an anxious mother, shunning social contact just to be with her children during their formative years. Louisa was actively interested in

spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...

and

cookery Cooking, cookery, or culinary arts is the art, science and craft of using heat to Outline of food preparation, prepare food for consumption. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely, from grilling food over an open fire to using electric ...

. She was unusual for mingling with

ns, more than many colonials, to learn of local spirits and cuisine. She did not conform to the views of her time regarding the segregation of social groups. Her husband died of a brain tumour in 1928 in

Dalhousie, India Dalhousie ( hi, script=Latn, ḍalhauzī, ) is a hill station, near town of Chamba in Chamba district in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is situated on five hills and has an elevation of above sea level. Etymology Dalhousie Town was ...

, when she was 42, and Louisa decided to move her family to England. She left India with her family under dire circumstances. They settled in Bournemouth in 1932. She bought a house in the area and named it Dixie Lodge. She moved again in 1935 with her eldest son, Lawrence, and his new wife, Nancy, to the island of Corfu, taking her other children with her. Her youngest son, Gerald, wrote memoirs about this formative period of his childhood on Corfu, where flora and fauna abounded. He portrayed his mother as the family's well-meaning but slightly eccentric matriarch in what is known as the Corfu trilogy: ''

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 ...

'' (1956), ''

Birds, Beasts and Relatives ''Birds, Beasts, and Relatives'' (1969) by British naturalist Gerald Durrell is the second volume of his autobiographical Corfu trilogy, published from 1954 to 1978. The trilogy are memoirs about his childhood with his family between 1935 and ...

'' (1969), and ''

The Garden of the Gods ''The Garden of the Gods'' (American title: ''Fauna and Family'') (1978) by British naturalist and author Gerald Durrell (1925–1995) is the third book in his autobiographical Corfu trilogy, following '' My Family and Other Animals'' and '' ...

'' (1978). In June 1939, before the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Louisa returned to England. After the war, she lived for periods with her daughter Margaret, who had a boarding house in Bournemouth, as well as with Gerald at his home at the Jersey Zoo, founded with the proceeds from his books. Louisa died in Bournemouth in 1964 at the age of 78.

Representation in other media

Gerald Durrell's trilogy has been adapted several times for British TV and radio series. Louisa was portrayed by

Hannah Gordon Hannah Campbell Grant Gordon
Film reference website (born 9 April 1941) is a Scottish actress and presenter ...

in the 1987

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Biography

Representation in other media

References