Lord William Henry Berkeley Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman,

GCVO The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(12 July 1829 – 16 October 1919) was a British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Background

Portman was the son of

Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman Edward Berkeley Portman, 1st Viscount Portman (9 July 1799 – 19 November 1888) was a British Whig politician. He was an active supporter of the Royal Agricultural Society of England from its commencement in 1838, and served as president in 184 ...

and Lady Emma Lascelles, daughter of

Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood DL (25 December 1767 – 24 November 1841), known as Viscount Lascelles from 1814 to 1820, was a British peer, slave plantation and other land owner, chiefly inherited art collector, and Member of Parliament. ...

Political career

Portman was elected to Parliament for

Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...

in 1852, a seat he held until 1857, and then represented

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

from 1857 to 1885. In 1888 he succeeded his father and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Estates

At the end of the nineteenth century the

99-year lease A 99-year lease was, under historic common law, the longest possible term of a lease of real property. It is no longer the law in most common law jurisdictions today, yet 99-year leases continue to be common as a matter of business practice and c ...

s on the family properties in London came up for renewal, generating a colossal income for Lord Portman of some £100,000 a year. With this fortune he commissioned

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

to build a new mansion for him at the

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families to ...

Bryanston Bryanston is a village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated on the River Stour west of Blandford Forum. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 925. The village is adjacent to the grounds of Bryanston School, an inde ...

. Within 30 years, however, it had been sold to

Bryanston School Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928 ...

, which is still based there. This was because it rapidly became anachronistic and uneconomic even for an aristocratic family to occupy a house on such a scale, and the family was also crippled by

death duties An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and property) of a person who has died. International tax law distinguishes between an es ...

when the second Viscount's heir and his heir's heir died within ten years of him.

Family

Son of

(9 July 1799 – 19 November 1888) and Lady Emma Lascelles (16 March 1809 – 8 February 1865) Lord William Henry Berkeley Portman married Mary Selina Charlotte FitzWilliam (9 Jan 1836 – 3 January 1899), daughter of William Charles FitzWilliam (18 Jan 1812 – 8 November 1835), son of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam,(1786–1857) and Lady Selina Charlotte Jenkinson, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Liverpool, on 21 June 1855. They had six sons and two daughters: * Hon. Edward William Berkeley Portman (30 July 1856 – 27 April 1911). He married as her second husband, Hon. Constance Mary Lawley, daughter of

Beilby Lawley, 2nd Baron Wenlock Beilby Richard Lawley, 2nd Baron Wenlock (2 April 1818 – 6 November 1880) was an English nobleman, eldest son of Paul Thompson, 1st Baron Wenlock and 8th Baronet. He succeeded in the Barony and Baronetcy and to the family estate at Escrick, Yor ...

. They had no issue. * Hon. Walter George Berkeley Portman (2 June 1858 – 14 December 1865). * The Rt. Hon.

Henry Berkeley Portman, 3rd Viscount Portman Henry may refer to: People * Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal ...

(16 February 1860 – 18 January 1923). * Hon. Emma Selina Portman (5 April 1863 – 1 March 1941). She married

Ronald Ruthven Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven Ronald Ruthven Leslie-Melville, 11th Earl of Leven and 10th Earl of Melville, (19 December 1835 – 21 August 1906) was a Scottish nobleman. Early life The son of the John Thornton Leslie-Melville, 9th Earl of Leven and his second wife, Sophia, d ...

. They had four sons, and one daughter. * The Rt. Hon.

Claud Berkeley Portman, 4th Viscount Portman Claud is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Claud Allister (1888–1970), English actor * Claud Beelman (1883–1963), American architect * Claud Irvine Boswell (1742–1824), Scottish judge * Claud Thomas Bourchier (1831–1877 ...

(1 November 1864 – 6 June 1929). * Hon. Susan Alice Portman (30 March 1866 – 21 August 1933). She married Alan William Heber-Percy, grandson of Bishop Hugh Percy thorugh his son Algernon. They had four sons, and three daughters. * The Rt. Hon.

Seymour Berkeley Portman, 6th Viscount Portman Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township * Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria *Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria *Seymour, Tasmania, a locality ...

(19 February 1868 – 2 November 1946). * The Rt. Hon.

Gerald Berkeley Portman, 7th Viscount Portman Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and Iris ...

(23 January 1875 – 3 September 1948). He married Dorothy Marie Isolde Sheffield, daughter of

Sir Robert Sheffield, 5th Baronet The Sheffield Baronetcy, of Normanby in the County of Lincoln, is a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 1 March 1755 for Charles Herbert Sheffield, the illegitimate son of John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Norman ...

. They had two sons, and one daughter, Penolope, who married Brigadier Archer Francis Lawrence Clive, the son of Lt.-Gen. Sir Sidney Clive. They had one son, and daughter. Two of his sons predeceased him and all four of the others succeeded to his title in the course of time (see the titles in the names above). Lord Portman's first wife died in 1899. In 1908 he married, secondly, shortly before his 79th birthday, Frances Maxwell Buchanan Cuninghame, by whom there were no further children. Lord Portman died in October 1919, aged 90, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest surviving son, Henry Berkeley Portman.

References

External links

*
''Feature in Dorset Life''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portman, Henry Portman, 2nd Viscount 1829 births 1919 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs who inherited peerages

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

British landowners 19th-century British businesspeople