Elias Durnford

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Elias Durnford was a young British engineering lieutenant who served with distinction during The Seven Years (French & Indian) War.

Appointment to Florida

As the war drew to a close in 1763, young officers like Durnford were being mustered out. Fortunately, because of strong family connections, Elias was able to gain a place in the New World as an engineering officer and surveyor to British West Florida. This territory was newly acquired at the peace table in Paris. And so, in 1764, he arrived in Pensacola with a commission to literally create a new plan for the city.

His work in Florida

He set about this plan by creating a new town design based upon a classic pattern. There was a square about which government would be built; another square was set aside for public affairs and military drill. Streets were set at right angles and named for the royal family and principal personages in government. Of equal interest was the assignment of garden plots. With each building lot, the individual was issued a companion piece of ground along the northern border of the town; these were cleared, and each family tried to grow a part of its food. A thoroughfare developed along this long row of gardens which was logically called Garden Street. The name still applies.

In addition to his engineering duties, Durnford was for a time the colony’s lieutenant governor. He was also acting governor after Gov. Elliott hanged himself. As soldier, administrator, engineer and surveyor, Elias Durnford was the only principal British official to have constant residence there from the beginning to the end of British authority.

Later life

When Gen. Galvez’s Spanish forces overwhelmed the British in 1780 Durnford was paroled, left the colony and returned to the north of England, living out his years there. His interest in solid planning, sound administration and commerce made him a man of substance who deserved a better place in local history.

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