Henry Portman

Henry William Portman was an 18th-century housing developer, the ancestor of the Viscounts Portman.

Biography

He was the son and heir of Henry William Berkeley Portman MP, by his wife Anne Fitch. His grandfather was William Berkeley of Pylle, Somerset, who had changed his surname, by a private act of Parliament, , to Portman on becoming heir to his distant cousin Sir William Portman, 6th Baronet of Orchard Portman, Somerset—as well as quartering the Portman arms with his own. He succeeded his father in the estates of Bryanston and Orchard Portman in 1761, and to the Berkeley estates at Pylle on the death of his aunt Lady Burland. He developed of meadow in London he had inherited from his Tudor ancestor Sir William Portman, turning it into the Portman Estate. He began issuing its first building leases in 1755, and building began in 1764 with Portman Square, which was to owe its popularity to buildings by Robert Adam and James ‘Athenian’ Stuart.

On 20 January 1766, he married Anne Wyndham, daughter of Sir William Wyndham, of Dinton House, Wiltshire, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.

Anne Mary Portman unm.
Henry Berkeley Portman, m. 2 May 1793, Hon. Lucy Elizabeth Dormer, daughter of Charles, 8th Lord Dormer. Three weeks after the wedding his father signed a new will, in which Henry was disinherited and the Portman properties left to his younger son. Henry was elected M.P. for Wells in 1790, but withdrew from parliament after the disagreement with his father. He and Lucy had one daughter, Charlotte Fanny, who was born at Barrells Hall, in Warwickshire, the home of Robert Knight. Still resident at Barrells Hall, on 28 August 1820, Charlotte Portman married John Poulett, 5th Earl Poulett & had issue.
Henrietta Portman, m. 11 July 1800 Lewis Tregonwell, of Cranborne, Hants. & Bournemouth, and had issue.
Edward Berkeley Portman, ancestor of the present Viscounts Portman
Wyndham Portman unm.