Social Victorians/People/Portal

Also Known As

• Family name: Portal
• Baronet Portal, of Malshanger, Church Oakley, co. Southampton, UK
  • Sir Wyndham Spencer Portal, 1st Bt. (11 March 1901 – 14 September 1905)
  • Sir William Wyndham Portal, 2nd Bt. (14 September 1905 – 30 September 1931)

Timeline

1880 June 23, William Wyndham Portal and Florence Elizabeth Mary Glyn married.

1897 June 5, Saturday, the opening of Sydney Grumby's adaptation of Alexander Dumas père's 1841 play A Marriage of Convenience at the Haymarket Theatre in London was reviewed in a number of papers. The costumes worn by William and Florence Portal at the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball may have been influenced by the costumes in this production. The Queen 's review includes this:

I had almost forgotten a point most interesting to readers of the Queen —the dresses. When I saw "The Princess and the Butterfly," at the St. James's, I thought the ne plus ultra in magnificence had been reached for comedy costumes; but they are quite eclipsed by the dresses in the new Haymarket piece. The costumes, in especial, worn by Miss Winifred Emery, Mr Terriss, and Mr Cyril Maude, in the last act, are so beautiful as well as rich, so rich as well as beautiful; and the contrast between the light brocade of the pure young wife (have we any actress who can play a generous, innocent, high-spirited young wife with the same charm as Miss Emery?) with the rich green, sable-trimmed brocade of the husband's coat, and the glorious pink brocade of Mr Cyril Maude's is artistic in the highest degree. There may, as the critics said, be nothing great in the play, but it is the most delightful and delightfully played comedy now on the London boards.

Miss Winifred Emery played the Comtesse de Candale and Mr. William Terriss played the Comte. Her costume in the last act was a light brocade; his was a green brocade trimmed with sable.

The long review in the Daily Telegraph includes this:

There is a mania just now for costume. We are all dressing up. Fancy balls, costume balls, pageants, and processions are in the air. It may be the Jubilee or not, but still no one can deny that just now we like any period of costume better than our own. We are one and all flinging ourselves back into the past, and when Mr. William Terriss — that "fine figure of a man" — flaunts himself before the ladies as Le Comte de Candale, with lovely coats and swords and lace and ruffles, gold embroidered stockings, and the rest, why the fortune of the play is half made in advance. It was a happy thought to have a costume play, and the Haymarket is the very theatre in London for it.

... We are out of practice with costume plays, and, therefore, dress swords fall out of their hangers and tumble incontinently about the stage. Our actors do not know how to sit down in ease in the Louis XV period, and our actresses are a little awkward and confused when they are dressed up to represent our grandmothers and great grandmothers. But, still, they do their best. These things do not affect the eyes that never saw the Comédie Française in its prime. But they do ours that have.

1897 July 2, Friday, Mr. and Mrs. William Portal attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

Mrs. Florence Portal and Mr. William Portal as Comte and Comtesse de Candale from Un Mariage sous Louis XV. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

William Portal (at 549) and Florence Portal (at 550) attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball. Mr. William Wyndham Portal was in "Court dress, period Marie Thérese," wearing "plum satin, embroidered in steel."

Lafayette's portrait of "Florence Elizabeth Mary (née Glyn), Lady Portal and Sir William Wyndham Portal, 2nd Bt. as Comte and Comtesse de Candale from 'Un Mariage sous Louis XV'" in costume is photogravure #225 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Mr. and Mrs. W. Portal as Comte and Comtesse de Candale from 'Un Mariage sous Louis XV.'"

Alexander Dumas père's 1841 play A Marriage of Convenience (Un Mariage sous Louis XV, Comédie en Cinq Actes) was running in London at the Haymarket in the summer of 1897, having opened on 5 June 1897. The play was generally understood to have been written by Dumas and adapted by Sydney Grundy. In 1899 Samuel French published Sydney Grundy's adaptation from the translation as a comedy in 4 acts.

The Comte and Comtesse de Candale are the romantic leads of the play. They have married for convenience and over the course of the play fall for each other. The Comte's costume in Act 4 in the Haymarket production has the Comte dressed in a "rich green, sable-trimmed brocade" coat, but William Portal's coat seems to have been plum satin.

Demographics

• Nationality: British

Family

• Sir William Wyndham Portal, 2nd Bt. (12 April 1850 – 30 September 1931)
• Florence Elizabeth Mary Glyn ( – 30 December 1931)

1. Mary Florence Portal ( – 12 February 1918)
2. Margery Portal ( – 12 December 1962)
3. Wyndham Raymond Portal, 1st and last Viscount Portal (9 April 1885 – 6 May 1949)
4. Robert St. Leger Portal (20 November 1892 – 20 July 1926)