Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Portal, Melville
PORTAL, MELVILLE (1819–1904), politician, born on 31 July 1819 at his father's second seat of Freefolk Priors, Hampshire, was eldest surviving son of John Portal of Freefolk Priors and Laverstoke, Hampshire, the head of the Huguenot family of that name, by his second wife, Elizabeth, only daughter of Henry Drummond and Anne Dundas, daughter of Henry, first Viscount Melville [q. v.]. He was sent to Harrow school in 1832 to the house of Archdeacon Phelps, and left in 1837. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 30 May 1838, graduated B.A. in 1842, and proceeded M.A. in 1844. He was treasurer in 1841 and president next year of the Union at Oxford, and was an admirer of John Henry Newman [q. v.], whom he venerated throughout life and who occasionally wrote to him (Ward, Life of Newman, i. 617), though Portal's convictions never advanced further towards Rome. With four other young Oxonians he provided the funds for the building of the church of Bussage, a neglected village in Gloucestershire. On 15 April 1842 he was entered a student of Lincoln's Inn, was called to the bar on 24 Nov. 1845, and went the western circuit. He succeeded to his father's estate in 1848, and on 6 April 1849 was elected M.P. for the northern division of Hampshire as a conservative with a majority of 331 over William Shaw. In July 1852 Portal was re-elected without opposition, and sat till the next general election in 1857, when he retired. His first speech in the House of Commons was on 25 March 1851, the seventh night of the debate on the ecclesiastical titles assumption bill. He described it as 'the hasty effusion of an off-handed premier' and voted against it. In 1855 he married a sister of the wife of the prime minister. Lord John Russell [q. v.], and became his friend. Portal resided constantly at Laverstoke, and from 1846, when he ' was appointed a county magistrate, took, a prominent part in the judicial and administrative' work of the county ; in 1863 he was high sheriff. He was chairman' of the judicial business (1865-89) and was chairman of quarter sessions (1879-1903), during which time he reformed the treatment of prisoners in the county goal and introduced arrangements since adopted throughout England. In 1871 Portal persuaded the quarter sessions to order the restoration of the great hall of the castle of Winchester, where the assizes were held, and the work was carried out under his supervision. He published in 1899 'The Great Hall of Winchester Castle,' a quarto containing the history and architectural description of the castle, which he had written and illustrated in memory of fifty years' familiar intercourse with friends within its walls. He died at Laverstoke on 24 Jan. 1904, and was buried in the mortuary chapel in Laverstoke park. His life was spent in laborious and disinterested public service. His portrait by Archibald Stuart Wortley was presented to the county by members of the court of quarter sessions on 13 Oct. 1890, and is in the great hall at Winchester. He married on 9 Oct. 1855 Lady Charlotte Mary, fourth daughter of Gilbert Elliot, second earl of Minto [q. v.]. She died on 3 June 1899. They had three sons, of whom the second was Sir Gerald Herbert Portal [q. v.], and three daughters.
[Hampshure Chronicle, 18 Oct. 1890, 4 July 1903, 30 Jan. 1904; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage ; Foster, Alumni Oxonienses ; Harrow School Register ; P. M. Thornton, Harrow School ; Hansard, Debates ; information from Miss E. M. Portal.]