PORTMAN, Sir William, 6th Bt. (1645-90), of Orchard Portman, Som. and Bryanston, Dorset

A Tory in the Convention, Portman was returned for Taunton in 1690 but died on 18 Mar., before the first session opened. It was reported that ‘he disposed of himself in a very Christianlike manner, seriously reflecting on his past miscarriages and being very sensibly penitent at the last’. He left his estates valued at £8,000 p.a. to Henry Seymour* (brother of Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Bt.*), who assumed the surname Portman. Som. RO, Sanford mss DD/SF 4515, John Spreat to Edward Clarke*, 21 Mar. 1689[–90]; Luttrell, Brief Relation, ii. 23.