PORTER, Sir Thomas (1537-98), of Newent and Alvington, Glos.

Considering his status as knight of the shire, his knighthood and his serving as sheriff, the question that has to be asked about Porter is why his name is not to be found on the lists of members of the commission of the peace. Perhaps the answer lies in his religion, though he was appointed to a number of other commissions, and he would have been required to take the oaths before being admitted to the House of Commons. His presence in the 1581 session of the 1572 Parliament is known from his membership of the subsidy committee, 25 Jan. 1581. As his uncle Sir Nicholas Arnold had died in 1580, Porter was presumably returned at a by-election to fill the vacancy in the county representation. He died on 2 July 1598, and no will has been found.1C142/122/74, 153/97; Vis. Glos. (Harl. Soc. xxi), 127; CPR, 1558-60, p. 446; APC, viii. 287-9; xii. 193; xii. 193; xiii. 13, 60, 260, 278; xvi. 143; xvii. 72-3; D’Ewes, 288; CJ, i. 119.