British naturalist and first curator of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) in Exeter. William S.M. D'Urban's grandfather was a colonial official and British general and, although he was born in Topsham, Devon, the young William followed his grandfather to Wynberg, South Africa and later to Canada. Here, at an early age, he contracted diphtheria and when an attempt to cure him with local medicine failed, he was left virtually deaf. This meant that D'Urban was unable to pursue a military career, as was planned, and at this time he began to collect natural history specimens, including plants, insects and archeological artefacts. In the late 1850s he published some papers on general natural history and the Lepidoptera of Canada.

He returned to South Africa in 1860-1861 with his parents where he made collections of butterflies and ferns. Back in Exeter, D'Urban was chosen as first curator of RAMM he began to organise its collections ready for the opening in 1868, after which he continued to improve its displays and catalogue its accessions. Leaving the museum in 1884 he settled in California because of his son's ill health, although unfortunately the boy died there and D'Urban returned to Exeter where he remained for the rest of his life. His collecting activity continued throughout his life and his specimens were largely incorporated into the collection at RAMM, including over 500 sheets of fern specimens. D'Urban was particularly interested in birds when based in the south-west of England and in 1892 he published his fully illustrated The birds of Devon with Rev. M.A. Mathew. The butterfly genus Durbania Trimen was named in his honour.

Sources:
William Stewart Mitchell D'Urban (1837-1934), Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter, Devon:
http://www.rammuseum.org.uk/William-Stewart-Mitchell-D%E2%80%99Urban-(1836%E2%80%931934)/, 18 May 2011.