Viscount Portman, in the County of Somerset, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. [2] It was created on 28 March 1873, for the former Lord Lieutenant of Somerset and Liberal Member of Parliament Edward Portman, 1st Baron Portman. He had already been created Baron Portman, of Orchard Portman, on 27 January 1837, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. [3] His son, the second Viscount, represented Shaftesbury and Dorset in the House of Commons as a Liberal. As of 2014 [update] , the titles have been held by one of the latter's great-great-grandsons, the tenth Viscount, since 1999.
The family post-1728 is descended in the male line from a junior line of Berkeley of Stoke Gifford, one of whom married the daughter of Joan Portman, the great-granddaughter of Sir William Portman, Lord Chief Justice of England, between 1555 and 1557. He acquired land in Marylebone, London, which developed under Henry William Portman into the Portman Estate, a cornerstone of the family's wealth. The judge's grandson was created a baronet in 1612 (see Portman Baronets). In its third generation, when Sir William Portman, 6th Baronet, died in 1690 without progeny, the bulk of the estates passed to a husband of the family: Henry Seymour (d.1728), MP, 5th son of Sir Edward Seymour, 3rd Baronet of Berry Pomeroy, Devon (by coverture applying to his wife Anne Portman, second daughter of Sir John Portman, 1st Baronet). Seymour took the surname Portman in lieu of his patronymic, but left no issue. The property then devolved to another cousin, William Berkeley (d.1737) of Pylle, Somerset, who likewise took the surname Portman. His great-grandson was Edward Berkeley Portman (1771–1823), MP for Dorset and father of Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman. [4]
The family seat was Bryanston House, near Bryanston, Dorset, which has been a large private school since 1928.
The heir apparent is the present holder's son the Hon. Luke Henry Oliver Richard Berkeley Portman (b. 1984). [9]
Duke of Somerset, from the county of Somerset, is a title that has been created five times in the peerage of England. It is particularly associated with two families: the Beauforts, who held the title from the creation of 1448, and the Seymours, from the creation of 1547, in whose name the title is still held. The present dukedom is unique, in that the first holder of the title created it for himself in his capacity of Lord Protector of the Kingdom of England, using a power granted in the will of his nephew King Edward VI.
The titles of Earl of Hertford and Marquess of Hertford have been created several times in the peerages of England and Great Britain.
Earl Waldegrave is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1729 for James Waldegrave, 2nd Baron Waldegrave.
Earl of Plymouth is a title that has been created three times: twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
This is an incomplete list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset. Since 1714, all Lord Lieutenants have also been Custos Rotulorum of Somerset.
William Henry Berkeley Portman, 2nd Viscount Portman, GCVO was a British Liberal Member of Parliament.
Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp of Hache was an English nobleman who had a theoretically strong claim to the throne of England through his mother, Lady Katherine Grey, but his legitimacy was questioned. He was an ancestor of the dukes of Somerset.
This is a list of people who have served as Custos Rotulorum of Somerset.
Baron Hillingdon, of Hillingdon in the County of Middlesex, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Mills family.
Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Baronet MP was a British nobleman, and a Royalist and Tory politician.
Edward Berkeley Portman, 1st Viscount Portman was a British Whig politician.
Pylle is a village and civil parish 4 miles (6.4 km) south west of Shepton Mallet, and 7 miles (11.3 km) from Wells, in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. It has a population of 160. The parish includes the hamlet of Street on the Fosse.
Henry William Portman was an 18th-century housing developer, the ancestor of the Viscounts Portman.
Edward Berkeley Portman of Bryanston House, Bryanston, Dorset was an 18th-century English housing developer and politician.
The Tancred, later Lawson-Tancred Baronetcy, of Boroughbridge in the County of York, is a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 17 November 1662 for Thomas Tancred. He was a descendant of Richard Tankard, who shortly after the Norman Conquest owned lands at Boroughbridge in Yorkshire, where the family remains.
The Portman baronetcy, of Orchard Portman in the County of Somerset, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 25 November 1611 for John Portman, son of Sir Henry Portman, knight, of Orchard Portman, Somerset, by Jane Mitchell. Orchard Portman is two miles southeast of Taunton. Sir Henry was the son of Sir William Portman, Lord Chief Justice of England between 1555 and 1557.
Sir Edward Seymour, 3rd Baronet of Berry Pomeroy Castle was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1688. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.
Sir William Clay, 1st Baronet was an English Liberal Party politician and considered as a reformist a Radical.
Sir William Portman, 6th Baronet FRS was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1661 and 1690.
Henry Seymour later Portman, of Orchard Portman, Somerset, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England and then Great Britain almost continually between 1679 and 1715.