PORTEOUS AT WARPeninsular War The first Porteous recorded as serving in the British armed forces was Inspector General Edward Porteous (a nephew of bishop Beilby Porteus), who was with the Army Medical Department of the 5th Foot during the Napoleonic War in Egypt and the Peninsular. He retired in 1821, died in 1843 and is buried in Florence, Italy. At around the same time, Captain James Porteous, Royal Navy, was 2nd Master of HMS Monmouth and present at the Battle of Camperdown in 1797. Major Charles Porteous served with the 2nd Bengal Native Infantry in West Sumatra with the British East India Company. He died there in 1816 and is buried at Bencoolen, in the old English graveyard in south-west Indonesia. Captain John Porteous of HMS Porpoise in 1809 was involved with the matter of Captain William Bligh, English admiral who had accompanied Captain Cook on his second expedition (1772–74). In 1787 he was master of HMS Bounty when a mutiny broke out and Bligh, along with fifteen others, was set adrift – eventually making landfall at Timor in the East Indies.
Indian Mutiny Many officers and men with the surname Porteous were among the huge number sent to India during the Indian Mutiny (1838–73), amongst who were seven recipients of the Indian Mutiny Medal in 1859. Also amongst them was Private William Porteous of the 2nd Bengal European Fusiliers, who was awarded the Honourable East India Company Delhi Clasp. He underwent the amputation of his left hand after a severe wound at Badli-ke-Serai in June 1857 and was invalided out as a result of his wounds.
|
Another distinguished military family is No 405, amongst whose members was Captain Francis Pender Porteous, Royal Navy, who was at the Battle of Navarino in 1827, during the Greek War of Independence when a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada was destroyed by an allied force comprising the British, French, and Russian navies. This was the last all sail battle fought by the British Navy. He later took part in the Seige of Sebastopol (1854–55), in which wooden ships were towed into position by steamships – regarded as the first all steam naval battle, making him one of a mere handful of men who took part in the end or one era and the birth of a new approach to naval warfare. Zulu Wars Of the same family was his nephew, Lieutenant Francis Pender Porteous of the 24th Regiment (2nd Warwickshire) who served in Cape Colony, before the outbreak of the Zulu Wars, being ordered to join the headquarters column of the British army of invasion in November 1878 because of impending hostilities. He took part in the advance of that force into enemy territory in 1879, and was present at the reduction of Sirayo’s stronghold in the Bashee Valley. Ultimately, Lieutenant Porteous was given temporary command of E Company at the Battle of Isandhlwana where he was killed on 22nd January 1879. The entire British force of 1,200 men was wiped out.
The World Wars A vast number of almost every Porteous family fought in the Great War (World War I) of 1914–18, but there are far too many to list here, as the mass mobilisation of men affected almost every family in Great Britain and much of its Empire and the cost in terms of dead and wounded was huge. This applied to the Porteous and Porteus families as much as any other. The same was true of the second World War (1939–45). In both cases those who gave their lives are listed on the Porteous Roll of Honour. Separate lists of memorials to the dead of both wars, and of those who were decorated in each conflict are on following pages. Memorials and Cemeteries Decorations awarded Members of the Porteous family killed in World Wars I and II Lieut. Francis Pender Porteous Prisoners of War in World Wars I and II Capt. Patrick Porteous VC The Vietnam War We Will Remember Them |
Back to Introduction