Mary Edith Durham was born on December 8, 1863, in London, England, the daughter of surgeon Arthur Edward Durham (1834-1895).

She was a British traveller, anthropologist, artist, and writer who became famous for her anthropological accounts of life in Albania in the early 20th century. She was educated at Bedford College (1878–1882) and the Royal Academy of Arts. She worked as an artist and illustrator and exhibited at the Royal Academy. Durham provided illustrations for the reptile volume of the “Cambridge Natural History” (1899). Caring for her sick mother for many years after the death of her father, she became exhausted. The doctor recommended a foreign vacation to recuperate. Sailing to Montenegro, she was captivated by Balkan life and culture. She studied the region, its history, languages, customs, and manners. She contributed to the journal Man and published several books, e.g., “Through the Lands of the Serb” (1904), “The Burden of the Balkans” (1905), and “High Albania” (1909). Durham became secretary of the Anglo-Albanian Society founded in 1918. Ill health ended her travels in 1921, but she continued to publish and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute. She was also a member of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

She died on November 15, 1944, in London, England.