Sir William Portman ⁶¹

  General Notes:

In Somerset, where his family came from, he was in the commission of
the peace for that county from time to time. In 1533, as a barrister,
he was successful enough to be given a wardship by King Henry VIII as
well as being one of the administrators of the will of Catherine of
Aragon. In 1547 he was made a judge and knighted by King Edward VI.
When Richard Rich was ill, Portman was one of those who, by patent of
26 October 1551, were commissioned to despatch chancery matters; and
in the following January he was commissioned to aid the lord-keeper,
the bishop of Ely, in similar affairs. He seems to have been of the old way of thinking in religious matters. He found no difficulty in keeping office under Queen Mary; he followed Day, the bishop of Chichester; and, in 1554, he persuaded
Sir James Hales to abjure protestantism. Also in 1554 he was made
chief justice. He died early in 1557, and was buried, with a stately
funeral, on 10 February 1557 at St. Dunstan's in the West, London.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Knighthood: 1547.

William married Elizabeth Gilbert, daughter of John Gilbert and Unknown.