British engineer and horticulturalist. Frank Durham was the son of a surgeon at Guy's Hospital in London. He was educated at Rugby and graduated with a degree in Engineering from University College London. In 1891 he joined the civil engineering practice of William H. Lindley, which was headquartered in Frankfurt am Main in Germany. The firm specialised in water supply and sewerage work, and had contracts in 48 cities across Europe. Durham worked as an assistant engineer in various countries, especially in Germany, Austria, Romania, and Poland, and later was the resident engineer on projects in Germany and the Caucasus.

In 1905 he returned to England and set up a private consultancy. He suspended his practice between 1907 and 1909 to assist William Lindley on a report for the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways. Shortly after returning to private consulting, he retired to the coast of Devon, where to recover his health he took up gardening as a hobby.

At the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted as a private in the Old Sportmen's Corps, aged 42. He was transferred to the Royal Engineers in 1915, rose to the rank of Lt. Col., and after the war received both the MC and the Legion d'Honneur (3rd Class) for his work as Water Engineer to the 4th Army. From 1919 until 1922, he was Director of Works for the Imperial War Commission. He travelled to many sites where British troops had fallen and was awarded with the CBE (Military Section) in recognition of his services.

In 1926 he was elected Secretary of the Royal Horticultural Society, and remained in this post for nearly twenty years. F.R. Durham made collections in the Middle East and in tropical and South West Africa, and is commemorated in the botanical name Astragalus durhamii Turrill.

Sources:
1951, "Lt-Col. Frank Rogers Durham, CBE, MC", Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 72: 217-220.