Henry Cort

		Henry Cort Inventor - Creator of puddled iron - Father of iron trade
		This page is part of a website based on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort. The creator and owner of the site was Eric Alexander who passed away. The site is now hosted by Hans Weebers Please contact me with any comments or queries.

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Daniel Guion and family

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The Amherst-Porter network

There appears to be a network of navy officers with links to Thomas Smith and the Gosport area.

Amherst-Linzee links

Smith protégés John Amherst and Samuel Hood (Alexander's brother) both marry daughters of Portsmouth mayor Edward Linzee. Hood's marriage prospers, but Amherst's fades quickly.

In February 1750 Amherst, known for his bad temper, informed Thomas Smith that "we are parted by article, and I never will see her more".

From Oxford DNB entry for Admiral John Amherst

He soon separates from his wife, but there is no divorce. (Thomas Monday, whom she marries after her husband's death, turns up in other records as a relative of the Missing family.) Amherst has settled in Gosport, where he comes into contact with the Porter family.

Richard Porter's career

A document in the National Archives catalogue (Adm354/155/57, actually held at the Caird Library in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich), dated 17 February 1757, describes Richard as "in the 66th year of his life". He must therefore have been born around 1691.

The document also charts his career as a naval surgeon, serving on nine ships between 1726 and 1740. No record has yet been discovered of his marriage to Rachel or the baptism of his son Peter. The first baptism so far spotted for any of their children is of son Richard at St Stephen Walbrook, London, on 10 December 1728.

Some time between the baptisms of his son Moses (London, St Andrew Undershaft, 21 July 1735) and Gilbert (Titchfield, 9 February 1741/2) he has moved to Hampshire. The next child, Elizabeth, is baptised at Gosport Holy Trinity on 29 December 1745.

In the early 1750s he is recalled by the Navy to help in the preparation of the new naval hospital at Haslar, just south of Gosport.

We have received your letter of the 8th instant, signifying the directions of the Rt honoble the Lords Commissrs of the Admiralty, that We inform them, whether Mr Porter Surgeon of His Majesty's Hospital at Gosport, and Mr Kirk Surgeon of that at Plymouth, do continue to receive their Half Pay; and if not, how long it hath been discontinued to them: And in return thereto We desire you will acquaint their Lordships, that understanding from the Sick and Hurt Office, that Mr Porter has had an Allowance from them of £50 a Year from 3rd May 1754 in Consideration of the loss of his Private Practice on his removal from Gosport to the Royal Hospital at Haslar, his Half Pay has been discontinued to him from 30th June last.

Letter of 12 May 1755, National Archives Adm354/150/142

Another document, ADM354/148/76 tells how he has surveyed the proposed officers' apartments in company with "Portsmouth officers".

He serves for a while on the board of the hospital: the last meeting he attends is on 20 July 1756. He must have been gone some two years before James Lind arrives at the hospital.

In 1763 he is named as one of the original Gosport trustees: the only character identified so far with strong links to both the hospital and the town.

His will, made in 1767, is witnessed by James Collins, but he still has eleven years to live. He is buried at Alverstoke St Mary on 10 February 1778.

Richard Porter's family

Anyone in the eighteenth century who lives to the age of 86 can be expected to outlive some of his children. Richard's will (made at the age of about 76) names only three: Ann, Moses and Elizabeth (married to navy officer Archibald Dickson). The same three are named as siblings in the will of Peter Porter, probably the eldest, who entered the navy and reached the rank of lieutenant before being killed in action on board HMS Norfolk in 1762. Three other Porters - Richard, John and Gilbert - are also likely to have been Richard's children.

Nothing further is known about Gilbert (baptised 1741). But Richard (1728) and John (1730) turn up as captain's servants on the Captain. From 1st January 1756 they serve under Charles Catford, but John dies on 13 June. Catford also dies, on 9th September, and John Amherst becomes captain: Richard remains on board as his servant until 21 November 1759. Nothing further is known about the younger Richard's career, but it is surely no coincidence that Rachel Porter and her daughters Ann and Elizabeth figure in Amherst's will. Indeed, he and Ann appear to be very close: in her will, made in 1802, she will leave much of her estate to his niece.

Amherst died suddenly at Gosport on 14 February 1778, just two weeks after his promotion to admiral of the blue. He was buried in the parish church at Sevenoaks. In his will Amherst left everything to his brother; his widow then married Thomas Monday.

From Oxford DNB entry for Admiral John Amherst

I give and bequeath unto Ann Porter Spinster Daughter of the above named Rachel Porter and her Executors Administrators and Assigns to and for her and their line and Benefit all the residue and remainder of my Goods Chattels Monies and Securities for Money household ffurniture and all other my personal Estate and Effects whatsoever either at Gosport or elsewhere and of what nature or price or quality soever the same may be payment of my Debts Legacies and ffuneral Expenses and I do hereby nominate constitute and appoint the said Ann Porter sole Executrix of this my last Will and Testament.

From will of Admiral John Amherst

Clearly you need to qualify that "everything" in the ODNB account as relating to land and buildings only, not "goods, chattels" etc.

Moses's career takes him into the church. His will names three sons and two daughters. Second son William Warren Porter follows his father into the priesthood; becomes a fellow of his father's college, St John's Oxford; but dies in 1804. Eldest son John Fitzroy Porter goes into the Navy, reaching the rank of lieutenant. Youngest son Richard Cornewall also enters the Navy, but the only record found so far is as servant to his uncle Archibald Dickson, captain of the Captain (again!!), from 28 June to 22 September 1790.

Further navy links: Dickson etc

More links evolve from Archibald Dickson. For a while he seems to have been a shipmate of Jeremiah Attwick on board the Isis. Later he serves on the Guernsey with Samuel Marshall's brother-in-law David Maitland, who has begun his naval career as servant to William Hackman. Both Maitland and Hackman are from Gosport families: Moses Porter (Dickson's brother-in-law) accompanies Hackman's son on his way to the gallows.

Dickson's brother William also pursues a naval career: both rise to the rank of admiral. Archibald is created a baronet: his only recorded child being a daughter, his title and the estate he (presumably) purchases at Hardingham, Norfolk, will pass on his death to one of William's sons, also named Archibald.

William has married a niece of Cuthbert Collingwood, of Trafalgar fame. Their son Archibald becomes a captain's servant when his uncle Archibald takes command of the Greyhound in October 1775; remains at post when his father becomes captain On 24 September 1779; and resumes as servant to his uncle on board the Dublin in 1781. Other Dicksons who serve as captains' servants during this period may be William's sons.

Links to Henry Cort?

The only direct link to Henry Cort so far established, for any of the characters mentioned above, is that John Amherst is one (indeed the most senior) of Cort's clients during the period as navy agent. Is it mere coincidence that Cort's business later takes him to Gosport, where Amherst has settled? Indirect links include the will of William Hackman's brother-in-law Hyde Mathis, in whose codicil Cort is named as executor.

There are also links via the Attwick family. Amherst, in an early letter to Thomas Smith, professes a fondness for another of Smith's protégés, George Hamilton (also associated with protégés Alexander Hood and Michael Becher). Hamilton marries John Attwick's daughter Susanna, while Becher's brother marries Attwick's granddaughter Ann Haysham, whom he may have met at a commemoration for Hamilton in Gosport. Cort later marries Ann's sister.

How many of the Amherst-Porter network may have attended this commemoration? Do any become intimates of the Corts when they arrive in Gosport?

Related files

Henry Cort the Navy Agent

Cort's clients

Gosport in Cort's day

Gosport administration

Gosport worthies

Rev James Hackman, murderer

Samuel Marshall

Cort's links with Titchfield

Cort's links with Fareham

Life of Henry Cort

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
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