Henry Porter

Awarded the compensation for the Enmore estate in British Guiana, second son (after Thomas Porter 1790-1857, q.v. under 'Thomas Porter II') of Thomas Porter (1748-1815, q.v. under 'Thomas Porter I').

1. Son Thomas of Demerara; matriculated Brasenose 24/07/1811 aged 19. BA 1815, MA 1819, a student of Lincolns Inn 1811. Thomas Porter, the father, in Rubinstein 1815/6 (left £120,000) (lived Rockbeare House, High Sheriff Devonshire 1804).

2. Henry Porter of the parish of St James Westminster married Rose Aylmer Russell, a minor, with the consent of the Rt Hon. Sir Henry Russell, 'the natural and lawful father of the said minor', at St Marylebone 27/07/1820.

3. Henry Porter bought Winslade House and Park at Clyst St Mary, Devon, c. 1822. The mansion had been built in the late 18th century for an East India merchant, Edward Cotsford, who was High Sheriff of Devon in 1792. He died in 1810. The house was then occupied by the Porcher family. Josias du Pre Porcher, who had made his fortune working for the East India Company and was later a member of parliament, died at Winslade in 1820. The house is now a Grade II listed building. In 1851 he was living at Winslade, aged 59 Landed Proprietor and Magistrate, born Demerara, and Rose Aylmer aged 50 born Calcutta, with eight children and Henry's brother Thomas Porter aged 60 also born Demerara (and 10 servants).

4. Will of Henry Porter of Winslade who died 15/10/1858 proved 09/12/1858 by Reginald Porter, Ludovico Porter (the sons) and Cecil Henry Russell the nephew, effects under £6000. (The will of Henry Porter of Ilfracombe Devon proved 09/06/1854 appears unconnected). Henry Porter's eldest son Henry Aylmer Porter left £81,578 17s 8d on his death in 1902.

5. Henry Porter and his wife had ten children. One of them, Gertrude, married in Kenn, Devon, in 1867, William Stewart Mitchell D’Urban, who later became the first Curator of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. He was the son of Lt Gen. William James D’Urban (q.v.) and Mary Elizabeth Stewart Mitchell (q.v.).

T71/885 British Guiana claim no. 569 (Pln Enmore).

1. Ancestry.com, Oxford University Alumni, 1715-1886 [database online]; PROB 11/2193.

2. Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

3. Email from Peter Wingfield-Digby 29/10/2019; 'Covenant to produce deeds. 1. Henry Porter of Winslade House, Devon, Esq. 2. John Bowden Creswell of Newcourt, Devon, Esq.' at Devon Archives and Local Studies Service (South West Heritage Trust), 1926 B/BC/T/2/24; https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1097566 [accessed 04/11/2019]; 1851 census online.

4. National Probate Calendar 1858 and 1902.

5. Findmypast.co.uk, Devon Marriages [database online]; see d'Urban's entry in the 'Global Plants' database, https://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000025360 [accessed 04/11/2019].

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