Thomas Porter I

1. Thomas Porter I, father of Thomas II, Henry and William (q.v.), was a major slave-owner in Demerara. He spent some time in Tobago before moving to Demerara in 1782. He was one of the first planters to buy up cotton plantations on the coast, and made a large fortune. Later he switched to producing sugar, as did many other plantation owners in Demerara. He returned to England in May 1796. He was High Sheriff of Devonshire in 1804.

2. Within a few years of his return he purchased Rockbeare House, a few miles east of Exeter. The house received manorial rights in 1815, and was subsequently known as Rockbeare Manor. It was originally built about 1760 for Sir John Duntze, a rich Exeter wool merchant and MP for Tiverton from 1768 until his death in 1795. It is not clear whether the present building contains part of the original building, or whether the Porters pulled down the old house and built a new one. Rockbeare Manor is now a Grade 1 listed building, and is used as a wedding and events venue.

3. There is a faded memorial for him (in Latin) in Rockbeare Church, which also mentions the death of his wife Sarah on 1 Apr 1823. Historic England describe it as follows: ‘The only notable mural monuments are those in the north aisle and are described working from east to west. The Porter memorial of circa 1815 is white marble on a shaped grey marble ground. The inscription, which records the death of Thomas Porter in 1815 and his wife Sarah in 1823, is flanked by pilasters with inlaid black fretwork and with clawed bases over a lower section enriched with carved fronds. At the top a tented canopy is surmounted by a vase with garlands of flowers and an apron contains a heraldic device.'

W.D. Rubinstein Who were the rich? Vol. 1 1809-1839, 1815/6. The entry also indicates slave-property in Barbados; it omits his daughter Sarah from the list of Thomas Porter I's children.

1. David Alston, 'Slaves and Highlanders', http://www.spanglefish.com/slavesandhighlanders/index.asp?pageid=361493 [accessed 04/11/2019]; George Pinckard (1806), Notes on the West Indies, written during the expedition under the command of the late General Sir Ralph Abercromby (1806) Vol. II pp. 216-8.

2. One source states the house 'contains part of the original building' (a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000193">https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000193) and another that the Porters 'pulled down' the original house (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol6/pp425-430), both accessed 04/11/2019.

3. https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101203864-church-of-the-blessed-virgin-mary-rockbeare#.XcBeYD_gosk [accessed 04/11/2019].

We are grateful to Peter Wingfield-Digby for compiling this entry.