DURNO, JAMES (1750?–1795), historical painter, was the son of the proprietor of a brewery at Kensington Gravel Pits, who was a native of the north of England. He was a pupil of Andrea Casali [q. v.], and also received instruction from Benjamin West [q. v.], whom he assisted in preparing repetitions of his pictures. In 1771 he gained a premium of thirty guineas at the Society of Arts, and was further successful in 1772 in gaining the first premium of a hundred guineas for the best historical painting. He was a member of the Society of Incorporated Artists, and subscribed their roll declaration in 1766. He contributed a few pictures to their exhibitions at Spring Gardens in 1769, 1772, 1773. He also assisted Mortimer in the ceiling which he painted for Lord Melbourne at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire. In 1774 he went to Rome, where he resided until his death (13 Sept. 1795). Fuseli states that he employed himself ‘partly practising and partly dealing in art,’ and that ‘he once made an attempt at some grandeur of style in one or two Greek and Roman subjects, but soon dwindled into the meagre Gothic method exposed in his two pictures for the Boydell Gallery.’ These two pictures represented ‘Falstaff examining the Recruits’ and ‘Falstaff in disguise, led out by Mrs. Page.’ They were both engraved by Thomas Ryder, the former also by T. Hollis; the latter is now in Sir John Soane's Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields. There is an etching by Durno in the print room at the British Museum, representing an ‘Antique Funeral.’
[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters; Catalogues of the Society of Artists; manuscript notes by Fuseli, in Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters (British Museum Library).]
DURWARD, ALAN (Alanus Ostiarius, Hostiarius, Dyrwart ‘Le Usher’) (d. 1268), justiciar of Scotland and earl of Atholl, was the son of Thomas Ostiarius, who was a benefactor to the monks of Arbroath, and a signatory to at least one charter of Alexander II, dated between 1231 and 1233 A.D. (Reg. of Aberbr. p. 9; Cal. of Doc. ii. 530; cf. Crawford, p. 12; Stewart, Peerage, i. 161). Durward makes his first appearance as Alan ‘Ostiarius domini Regis Scocie, Comes Atholie,’ in a deed of gift to St. Thomas's Church at Arbroath, a deed which was confirmed by Alexander II at Kintore, 12 Oct. 1233 (Vetus Reg. of Aberbr. pp. 91, 190; cf. Scotiæ Monasticon, iii. 419). In 1244 he was the first noble to pledge himself for the fidelity of Alexander II in this king's oath to Henry III; and further on in the same document undertakes, along with the seven earls of Scotland, to withstand their own sovereign should he attempt to play false (Matt. Paris, iv. 381). On Alexander II's death (8 July 1249) he starts forward as one of the chief leaders of the English party at the Scotch court. The little king's coronation had been fixed for 13 July, when ‘Alan Dorwart totius nunc Scociæ justitiarius’ put forward a claim to defer the coronation till the young Alexander had been made a knight; his proposal was, however, negatived mainly by the influence of Walter Comyn, count of Menteith, the head of the national party in Scotland (Fordun, p. 293; Robertson, ii. 55). At Christmas Alexander met Henry III at York, was knighted (25 Dec.), and married to his eldest daughter Margaret (26 Dec. 1251) (Fordun, p. 293; Robertson, ii. 55; Matt. Paris, v. 267). Before leaving York Durward's enemies accused him of treason. He had married a natural daughter of Alexander II, and was now charged with having written to the pope begging him to legitimatise his daughters by this lady. This act was construed as equivalent to an attempt to regulate the succession to the throne. The influence of the English king saved Durward for the time; but on his return to Scotland his chief opponents, the counts of Menteith and Mar, forced Durward's great ally, the chancellor Robert, abbot of Dunfermline, to resign his office, a step which marked the triumph of the Comyns and their party (Chron. de Melrose, pp. 219–20; Fordun, pp. 296–7).
On this it would seem that Durward, one of the heads of the English faction, or ‘the king's friends’ as they were later called, took refuge in England. His leading associates were Malise, earl of Strathearn, Patrick, earl of Dunbar, Alexander, the steward of Scotland, and Robert Bruce, afterwards a claimant for the Scottish throne. Durward himself attended Henry III on the Gascon expedition of August 1253, on which occasion he seems to have been doing service for the Earl of Strathearn. He also seems to have been present at Prince Edward's marriage with Eleanor of Castile (1254). At this time he was in receipt of a pension of 50l. a year from the king of England, and his name is found entered in the English rolls more than once in the course of the next few years in connection with other monetary claims, such as that for fifteen marks as recompense for a horse lost overseas in the king's service (18–19 May 1255). In February 1256 the king was in his debt to the amount of 94l. 16s. 8d., and payment for this and other moneys was secured by an order on the re-
