Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Portman, Edward Berkeley
PORTMAN, EDWARD BERKELEY, Viscount Portman (1799–1888), born 9 July 1799, was son of Edward Berkeley Portman (d. 1823) of Bryanston and Orchard Portman, Dorset, by his first wife, Lucy, elder daughter of the Rev. Thomas Whitby of Cresswell Hall, Staffordshire. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with first-class honours, B.A. 1821, M.A. 1826. As a liberal he sat for Dorset from 1823 to 1832, and for Marylebone from 12 Dec. 1832 to March 1833, being the first member to represent that constituency after the Reform Act. On 27 Jan. 1837 he was created Baron Portman of Orchard Portman, and raised to be Viscount Portman of Bryanston on 28 March 1873. For some time he was a prominent speaker in the House of Lords. He was lord lieutenant of the county of Somerset from 22 May 1839 to June 1864, a commissioner and councillor of the duchy of Cornwall on 19 Aug. 1840, a councillor of the duchy of Lancaster on 13 Feb. 1847, and lord warden of the stannaries and high steward of the duchy of Cornwall from 20 Jan. 1865 to his decease. He was an active supporter of the Royal Agricultural Society from its commencement in 1838, and served as president in 1846, 1856, and 1862. He was a considerable breeder of Devon cattle and of improved Alderney cows. He died at Bryanston on 19 Nov. 1888.
He married, on 16 June 1827, Lady Emma, third daughter of Henry Lascelles, second earl of Harewood. She died on 8 Feb. 1865, leaving,six children: William Henry Berkeley, who succeeded to the peerage; Edwin Berkeley, barrister-at-law; Maurice Berkeley, a member of the Canadian parliament; Walter Berkeley, rector of Corton-Denham, Somerset; and two daughters.
[Doyle's Baronage, 1886, p. 68; Times, 20 Nov. 1888, p. 10; Illustrated London News, 12 July 1862, p. 57, with portrait, 11 April 1863, p. 400, with portrait; Journal Royal Agricultural Soc. 1889, p. vi.]