Sir Andrew Porter, 1st Baronet

"Andrew Marshall Porter" redirects here. For his son of the same name, see Marshall Porter.

Sir Andrew Marshall Porter, 1st Baronet PC, QC (27 June 1837 – 9 January 1919) was an Irish lawyer and judge.

Background and education

Porter was born in Belfast, the son of Reverend John Scott Porter. He was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and Queen's University, Belfast.

Legal and judicial career

In 1860 Porter was called to the Bar and by 1872 had become Queen's Counsel. He sat as Member of Parliament for County Londonderry from 1881 to 1884 and served under William Ewart Gladstone as Solicitor-General for Ireland from 1881 to 1882 and as Attorney-General for Ireland from 1882 to 1883: in his official capacity he was deeply involved in the trials following the Phoenix Park murders. He was appointed Master of the Rolls in Ireland in 1883 and served in that post until 1907. In 1902, he was made a baronet by King Edward VII.

A. M. Sullivan described him as "a fine lawyer of noble presence and true dignity" who did not tolerate any disturbance to the decorum of his Court. As a judge Sullivan ranked him as one of the four greatest he had known, and as almost the equal of the celebrated Christopher Palles.

Family

Porter married Agnes Horsburgh and they had six children:

• Helen Violet Porter (d. 1961), unmarried
• Margaret Porter, married Capt. Cuthbert Avenal John Vernon
• Sir John Scott Horsburgh-Porter, 2nd Baronet (1871–1953), succeeded his father in the title
• Alexander Porter (1872–1946)
• Andrew Marshall Porter (1874–1900), a noted sportsman who killed in the Second Boer War
• William Francis Porter (1878–1903)

While living in Dublin, Porter resided at 42 Merrion Square East, as noted in Ulysses by James Joyce.

References

• Plarr, Victor, Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries (London, 1899), p. 872.
• Gifford, Don, Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses (University of California Press, 1989), p. 182.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Andrew Porter, Bt

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Thomas McClure, Bt Hugh Law	Member of Parliament for Londonderry 1881–1884 With: Sir Thomas McClure, Bt	Succeeded by Samuel Walker Sir Thomas McClure, 1st Bt
Legal offices
Preceded by William Moore Johnson	Solicitor-General for Ireland 1881–1882	Succeeded by John Naish
Preceded by William Moore Johnson	Attorney-General for Ireland 1882–1883	Succeeded by John Naish
Preceded by Edward Sullivan	Master of the Rolls in Ireland 1883–1906	Succeeded by Richard Edmund Meredith
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baronet (of Merrion Square) 1902 – 1919	Succeeded by John Scott Horsbrugh-Porter