Sir Andrew Marshall Porter, 1st Baronet PC, QC (27 June 1837 – 9 January 1919) was an Irish lawyer and judge.

Background and education

Porter was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, the son of Reverend

John Scott Porter John Scott Porter (1801–1880) was an Irish biblical scholar and Unitarian minister. Life He was eldest son of William Porter (1774–1843), a Presbyterian minister, by his first wife, Mary, daughter of Charles Scott, born at Newtownlimavady, ...

and his wife Margaret Marshall. He was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, and

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

Legal and judicial career

In 1860 Porter was called to the Bar and by 1872 had become

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

. He sat as Member of Parliament for

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

from 1881 to 1884 and served under

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

Solicitor-General for Ireland The Solicitor-General for Ireland was the holder of an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then (from the Act of Union 1800) United Kingdom government office. The holder was a deputy to the Attorney-General for Ireland, and advised the Crown on Irish ...

from 1881 to 1882 and as

Attorney-General for Ireland The Attorney-General for Ireland was an Kingdom of Ireland, Irish and then, from 1801 under the Acts of Union 1800, United Kingdom government office-holder. He was senior in rank to the Solicitor-General for Ireland: both advised the Crown on ...

from 1882 to 1883: he was deeply involved in the trials following the

Phoenix Park murders The Phoenix Park Murders were the fatal stabbings of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Thomas Henry Burke in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland, on 6 May 1882. Cavendish was the newly appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland and Burke was the Permane ...

. He was appointed

Master of the Rolls in Ireland The Master of the Rolls in Ireland was a senior judicial office in the Irish Chancery under English and British rule, and was equivalent to the Master of the Rolls in the English Chancery. Originally called the Keeper of the Rolls, he was respon ...

in 1883 and served in that post until 1907. It was announced that he would receive a

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the

1902 Coronation Honours The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list shou ...

list published on 26 June 1902 for the (subsequently postponed) coronation of

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

, and on 24 July 1902, he was created a Baronet, of Merrion square, in the city and county of Dublin. A. M. Sullivan described him as "a fine lawyer of noble presence and true dignity" who did not tolerate any disturbance to the decorum of his Court. As a judge, Sullivan ranked him as one of the four greatest he had ever known, and perhaps the equal of the celebrated

Christopher Palles Christopher Palles (25 December 1831 – 14 February 1920) was an Irish barrister, Solicitor-General, Attorney-General and a judge for over 40 years. His biographer, Vincent Thomas Hyginus Delany, described him as "the greatest of the Irish judg ...

Family

Porter married Agnes Horsburgh and they had six children: * Helen Violet Porter (d. 1961), unmarried * Margaret Porter, married Capt. Cuthbert Avenal John Vernon * Sir John Scott Horsburgh-Porter, 2nd Baronet (1871–1953), succeeded his father in the title * Alexander Porter (1872–1946) * Andrew Marshall Porter (1874–1900), a noted sportsman who was killed in the Second Boer War * William Francis Porter (1878–1903) While living in Dublin, Porter resided at 42

Merrion Square Merrion Square () is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square on the Southside Dublin, southside of Dublin city centre. History The square was laid out in 1762 to a plan by John Smyth and Jonathan Barker for the estate of Richard Fitz ...

East, as noted in ''

Ulysses Ulysses is the Latin name for Odysseus, a legendary Greek hero recognized for his intelligence and cunning. He is famous for his long, adventurous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, as narrated in Homer's Odyssey. Ulysses may also refer ...

'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

. He died there on 9 January 1919.

Arms

References

* Plarr, Victor, ''Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries'' (London, 1899), p. 872. * Gifford, Don, ''Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses'' (University of California Press, 1989), p. 182.

External links

* 1837 births 1919 deaths 19th-century Irish lawyers Attorneys-general for Ireland Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Londonderry constituencies (1801–1922) Lawyers from Belfast Solicitors-general for Ireland UK MPs 1880–1885 Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Masters of the Rolls in Ireland {{UK-baronet-stub