Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman

Edward Berkeley Portman, 1st Viscount Portman (9 July 1799 – 19 November 1888), was a British Liberal politician.

Portman was the son of Edward Berkeley Portman, of Bryanston and Orchard in Dorset, and his wife Lucy, daughter of Reverend Thomas Whitby. He was a descendant of Sir William Portman, Lord Chief Justice of England between 1555 and 1557. Portman was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1823 he was elected to Parliament for Dorsetshire, a seat he held until 1832, and then represented the newly-created constituency of Marylebone from 1832 to 1833. In 1837 Portman was raised to the peerage as Baron Portman, of Orchard Portman in the County of Somerset, and became an active member of the House of Lords. Lord Portman was also a member of the councils of the Duchy of Cornwall and Duchy of Lancaster and served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset from 1839 to 1864 and as Lord Warden of the Stannaries from 1865 to 1888. In 1873 he was further honoured when he was created Viscount Portman, of Bryanston in the County of Dorset.

Lord Portman married Lady Emma Lascelles, third daughter of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood, in 1827. They had six children, four sons and two daughters. Lord Portman died in November 1888, aged 89, and was succeeded in the barony and viscountcy by his eldest son Henry Berkeley Portman.

References

*Stephen, Sir Leslie; Lee, Sir Sidney (editors). "The Dictionary of National Biography: Volume XVI". Oxford University Press, 1917.
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.