Duerden retired from Rhodes University in 1932, though continued to work with the Grootfontein Agricultural College. This college has an annual prize named in his honour, the Duerden Shield, for a student working in the area of sheep, goats and wool. Duerden returned in England, where he worked for the Wool Industries Research Association at Headingley, Leeds, and was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the University of Leeds. He died in Leeds on 4 September 1937.
