Durnford, Elias

Elias Durnford (June 13, 1739 - June 21, 1794) was a British army officer, civil engineer, and surveyor. He is best known for laying out the colonial capital of West Florida, Pensacola. Elias Durnford was born in Ringwood, Hampshire, England. Durnford joined the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1759. He served in the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763), participating in the 1761 Capture of Belle Île and the 1762 Battle of Havana. Lord Albemarle made him Aide-de-camp in Havana. In this role, he became an accomplished artist. He later posted to the new British colony of West Florida as chief engineer and surveyor general. During this time, he also performed private survey work for the many land grants then being passed out throughout West Florida - most to soldiers who served with distinction in the French and Indian War (1754 - 1763). He famously laid out the city of Pensacola, Florida, in 1764. He had his own grand, spacious plantation, Belle Fontaine, located on the eastern cliffs above Mobile Bay. He became the Lieutenant Governor of West Florida in 1769 when John Elliot (1742 - 1769), the governor, committed suicide in 1769. He remained in this position until the 1770 arrival of Peter Chester (1720 - 1799). He fought briefly in the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1783), surrendering to the Spanish in 1780, his estate in ruins. He returned to England but fought in additional campaigns against the French in Martinique, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia. He died of yellow fever in 1794 on the island of Tobago.