Whitworth Porter
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Whitworth Porter (1827–1892) was an English
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
of the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
, known also as a historical writer.


Life

The second son of Henry Porter, of Winslade House, South
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, he was born at Winslade, near
Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
, on 25 September 1827; his mother was Rose Aylmer, youngest daughter of
Sir Henry Russell, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Russell (8 August 1751 – 18 January 1836) was a British lawyer. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1816, during the reign of George III. The Russell baronetcy of Swallowfield in Berkshire, was created in the Baronetage of the United K ...
. Porter entered the
Royal Military Academy at Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...
on 14 November 1842, obtained a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 18 December 1845, and was promoted first lieutenant on 1 April 1846. After passing through the usual course of professional instruction at
Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...
, Porter embarked for
Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
in the West Indies on 13 December 1847, having married the preceding October. He returned home from Dominica in March 1850, and was stationed at
Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...
. He was promoted second captain on 3 January 1855. On 20 December 1853 he embarked for
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, but in February 1855 was sent on active service to the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. He served in the trenches at the
siege of Sebastopol A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
until June. For his services he received the war medal, with clasp for Sebastopol, the Turkish medal, and the fifth class of the Order of Medjidie; and on 2 November 1855 he was promoted brevet-major. After serving at home for 18 months, he returned to Malta in December 1856. On 2 April 1859 Porter was promoted first captain in the Royal Engineers, and returned to England. Porter was employed at the
War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...
under the inspector-general of fortifications from April 1859 until September 1862 in connection with the defence of the United Kingdom. he was the designer of
Picklecombe Fort Fort Picklecombe stands on the extreme south eastern coast of Cornwall, a couple of miles west of the city of Plymouth. The fort has been a residential complex since the early 1970s but has a history dating back 150 years. Founding Fort Pickleco ...
, as part of the defences of Devonport Dockyard. He served on the jury for the military division of the
1862 International Exhibition The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses ...
in London, was instructor in fortification at the
Royal Military College at Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...
from 1862 to 1868, was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel on 23 August 1866, and promoted regimental lieutenant-colonel on 14 December 1868. In March 1870 Porter was again sent to Malta, where, as executive officer under the commanding Royal Engineer, he supervised the construction of the defences of the new dockyard. While at Malta he was employed on the eclipse expedition to Sicily in 1872, and he designed and erected observatories at
Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
and
Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...
. He was promoted brevet-colonel on 14 December 1873. In February 1874 Porter was appointed commanding Royal Engineer at
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
; he remained there for two years, returning to England in April 1876, and was stationed for a time at Chatham. He was commanding Royal Engineer of the western district, and stationed at
Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...
from 1877 till 1 October 1881, when he retired from the service on a pension, with the honorary rank of major-general. After retirement he interested himself in charitable works connected with the
Order of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
, and was chairman of the metropolitan district of the
St. John's Ambulance Association St John Ambulance is the name of a number of affiliated organisations in different countries which teach and provide first aid and emergency medical services, and are primarily staffed by volunteers. The associations are overseen by the internat ...
. Porter died on 27 May 1892, and was buried at St. Michael's Church, York Town, now in
Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, of which he had been churchwarden for many years. He had contributed towards its enlargement, and had carved the ornamental foliage on the
chancel screen In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Over ...
.


Works

Porter published ''Life in the Trenches before Sebastopol'', London, 1856. It was followed by ''A History of the Knights of Malta'' (2 vols. London, 1858); which he revised for an edition in 1883, and also abridged. His major work of later life was ''History of the Corps of Royal Engineers'', which was published in two volumes in 1889. One of his last acts was to present the copyright of the work to the Corps. A continuation was added, through 11 volumes.


Family

Porter married in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, on 25 October 1847, Annie Shirley da Costa, by whom he had two children: # Catherine, who married Captain Crosse; and # Reginald da Costa, a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers who died in accident in 1882. Porter erected a
reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...
at St. Michael's Church, York Town, to the memory of Reginald.


References

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Whitworth 1827 births 1892 deaths British Army generals Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of the Crimean War