Constituency Dates
Taunton 1661, 1679 (Mar.)
Somerset 1679 (Oct.), 1681
Taunton 1685, 1689, 1690 – 18 Mar. 1690
Family and Education
b. 5 Sept. 1643, o. s. of Sir William Portman, 5th Bt.†, of Orchard Portman by Elizabeth, da. and coh. of John Colles of Barton Pitminster, Som. educ. All Souls, Oxf. 1659. m. (1) 14 Nov. 1661 (with £30,000), Elizabeth (d. 1673), da. and coh. of Sir John Cutler, 1st Bt.*, s.p.; (2) 23 Oct. 1674, Elizabeth (d. 1680), da. and coh. of Thomas Southcote† of Buckland Tout Saints, Devon, s.p.; (3) 19 Apr. 1682 (with £10,000), Mary, da. and h. of Sir John Holman, 1st Bt.†, of Banbury, Oxon., s.p. suc. fa. as 6th Bt. 10 Aug. 1645; KB 23 Apr. 1661.1 Soc. of Geneal. Orchard Portman, St. Mary le Strand and Otterton par. regs.; SP 23/206/607, 621; 29/40/45; HMC Portland, iii. 337; Vivian, Vis. Devon, 701; CSP Dom. 1679–80, p. 423; HMC Rutland, ii. 71; J. R. Heath, Grocers’ Co. 301; Add. 29564, f. 404.
Offices Held

FRS 1664.

Recorder, Taunton 1685– Sept. 1688, Oct. 1688–d.; commr. preventing export of wool 1689.2 CSP Dom. 1685, p. 293; SP 44/338/87; Add. 41805, f. 72.

Address
Main residences: Orchard Portman, Som.; Bryanston, Dorset.
biography text

A Tory in the Convention, Portman was returned for Taunton in 1690 but died on 18 Mar., before the first session opened. It was reported that ‘he disposed of himself in a very Christianlike manner, seriously reflecting on his past miscarriages and being very sensibly penitent at the last’. He left his estates valued at £8,000 p.a. to Henry Seymour* (brother of Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Bt.*), who assumed the surname Portman.3 Som. RO, Sanford mss DD/SF 4515, John Spreat to Edward Clarke*, 21 Mar. 1689[–90]; Luttrell, Brief Relation, ii. 23.

Author
P.W.
Volume
Commons 1690-1715
Notes
  • 1. Soc. of Geneal. Orchard Portman, St. Mary le Strand and Otterton par. regs.; SP 23/206/607, 621; 29/40/45; HMC Portland, iii. 337; Vivian, Vis. Devon, 701; CSP Dom. 1679–80, p. 423; HMC Rutland, ii. 71; J. R. Heath, Grocers’ Co. 301; Add. 29564, f. 404.
  • 2. CSP Dom. 1685, p. 293; SP 44/338/87; Add. 41805, f. 72.
  • 3. Som. RO, Sanford mss DD/SF 4515, John Spreat to Edward Clarke*, 21 Mar. 1689[–90]; Luttrell, Brief Relation, ii. 23.