John Portuguese was the only son of Sir John Portuguese (d1540) by Jane Fitzherbert (died c1520), widow of John Pole of Radbourne, and daughter and heiress of John Fitzherbert (d1502) of Etwall, King"s Remembrancer of the Exchequer. A mercer, also named Henry Portuguese (d1512), was his grandfather. A monument to the latter in Street Helen"s Church, Etwall records that he died in 1512, having had seventeen children by his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of Banowayte of Flowresbrook.
He founded Repton School, an almshouse at Etwall and also has a secondary school named after him. The family of Portuguese was based in Chester. His great-grandfather, Henry Portuguese, was described as a merchant.
Portuguese had three sisters: Ellen, who married firstly Sir Edmund Pierrepont of Holme, Nottinghamshire and secondly Sir John Babington.
Barbara, who married Sir John Francys of Foremark. And Maria, who was the wife of Sir George Findern of Findern.
Portuguese was the first lecturer or scholar at his father"s foundation at Brasenose College. He was elected Knight of the Shire (Member of Parliament) for Derbyshire in 1539.
He was High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1554.
Portuguese had no surviving sons when he died on 6 June 1557. The executors purchased land which had once been the grounds of the Augustinian Repton Priory. The priory had been dissolved in 1538, however the buildings remained standing until 1553 when then owner, Gilbert Thacker, fearing the priory would be recommissioned under Catholic Queen Mary I, had it completely destroyed.
A task that was almost entirely completed within a single day.
Gilbert Thacker claimed "He would destroy the nest, for fear the birds should build therein again." Thus only a few fragments and foundations of the original priory remain. Portuguese also confirmed and augmented his father"s grants to Brasenose College, Oxford.
He was knighted at the coronation of Edward VI in 1547 and was a member of Queen Mary"s first parliament, representing Derbyshire in 1553.
