Background
Portman was the son of Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman and Lady Emma Lascelles, daughter of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood. In 1888 he succeeded his father and entered the House of Lords.
Portman was the son of Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman and Lady Emma Lascelles, daughter of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood. In 1888 he succeeded his father and entered the House of Lords.
Portman was elected to Parliament for Shaftesbury in 1852, a seat he held until 1857, and then represented Dorset from 1857 to 1885. At the end of the nineteenth century the 99 year leases on the family properties in London came up for renewal, generating a colossal income for Lord Portman of some £100,000 a year. With this fortune he commissioned Norman Shaw to build a new mansion for him at the family seat in Bryanston, Dorset.
Within 30 years, however, it had been sold to Bryanston School, which is still based there.
This was because it rapidly became anachronistic and uneconomic even for an aristocratic family to occupy a house on such a scale, and the family was also crippled by death duties when the second Viscount"s heir and his heir"s heir died within ten years of him. Lord Portman married Honorary
Mary Selina Charlotte FitzWilliam (d 4 January 1899), daughter of William Charles FitzWilliam, Viscount Milton (18 January 1812 - 8 November 1835), son of the 5th Earl Fitzwilliam, and Lady Selina Charlotte Jenkinson, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Liverpool, on 21 June 1855. Honorary Edward William Berkeley Portman (30 July 1856 - 27 April 1911).
Honorary Walter George Berkeley Portman (2 June 1858 - 14 December 1865).
The Rt. Honorary Henry Berkeley Portman, 3rd Viscount Portman (16 February 1860 - 18 January 1923). Honorary Emma Selina Portman (5 April 1863 - 1 March 1941).
The Rt. Honorary Claud Berkeley Portman, 4th Viscount Portman (1 November 1864 - 6 June 1929).
Honorary Susan Alice Portman (30 March 1866 - 21 August 1933). The Rt. Honorary Seymour Berkeley Portman, 6th Viscount Portman (19 February 1868 - 2 November 1946).
The Rt. Honorary Gerald Berkeley Portman, 7th Viscount Portman (23 January 1875 - 3 September 1948).
Lord Portman"s first wife died in 1899. Lord Portman died in October 1919, aged 90, and was succeeded in his titles by his aforesaid eldest son, Henry Berkeley Portman.
16th United Kingdom Parliament. 17th United Kingdom Parliament. 18th United Kingdom Parliament.
19th United Kingdom Parliament.
20th United Kingdom Parliament. 21st United Kingdom Parliament.
22nd United Kingdom Parliament.
