PORTEUS, BEILBY (1731–1808), bishop of London, was born at York and educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he became fellow in 1752. He was ordained in 1757, and in 1762 was appointed domestic chaplain to the archbishop of Canterbury. In 1767 he became rector of Lambeth, and took his D.D. degree at Cambridge, preaching on that occasion a sermon which induced John Norris (1734–1777) to found the Norrisian professorship of divinity. About two years later he was appointed chaplain to the king and master of the hospital of St Cross, Winchester. In 1776 he became bishop of Chester, and in 1787 he was translated to London. He was a supporter of the Church Missionary and the British and Foreign Bible societies, and laboured for the abolition of slavery.
Of his published works the Review of the Life and Character of Archbishop Secker (London, 1770), and the Summary of the principal Evidence for the Truth and Divine Origin of the Christian Revelation (London, 1800), have passed through numerous editions.
PORTFOLIO (shortened form of porto folio, adapted from the Ital. portafogli, portare, to carry, and fogli, sheets or leaves of
paper, Lat. folium, leaf), a case for keeping papers, documents, prints, maps, &c., usually a leather book-cover with a flexible
back. As the official documents of a state department are in
the hands of the minister of that department, the word “ portfolio ” is frequently used figuratively of the office itself, particularly
on the continent of Europe, where the “ portfolio ” is
the symbol of office, as, in English usage, the “ seals ” are for the
secretary ships of state. The phrase “ minister without portfolio ” is applied to a member of a ministry to whom no special
department is assigned.
PORT GLASGOW, a municipal and police burgh and seaport of Renfrewshire, Scotland, on the southern shore of the Firth of
Clyde, 20¼ m. W.N.W. of Glasgow by the Caledonian railway.
Pop. (1901), 16,857. The ground behind the town rises to a
height of 700 ft. and is partly occupied by villas. Amongst the
principal buildings are the town house (1815), with a tower and
spire; the town hall (1873); the library (1887) founded by James
Moffat, a merchant of the burgh, and the Carnegie Park Orphanage,
also provided from the same bequest. Birkmyre Park was
opened in 1894. The industries include shipbuilding and allied
trades, engineering works, and iron and brass foundries. The
area of the port (which has wet and graving docks) amounts to
16 acres, and there are 2000 yds. of quayage. The harbours
are accessible at all stages of the tide. The district originally
formed part of the parish of Kilmalcolm, the nucleus of the town
being the village of Newark attached to the barony of that name.
In 1668 it was purchased from Sir Patrick Maxwell of Newark
by the Glasgow magistrates, who here constructed a harbour.
In 1695 it was erected into a separate parish under the name of
New Port Glasgow. In 1710 it became the chief custom-house
port for the Clyde, until superseded by Greenock. The graving
dock made in 1762 was the first dock of the kind in Scotland.
In 1775 Port Glasgow was created a burgh of barony and since
1832 has formed one of the Kilmarnock parliamentary burghs
(with Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Renfrew and Rutherglen). It
is governed by a council with provost and bailies. Adjoining
the town on the east are the picturesque ruins of Newark Castle,
a quadrangular building dating from the end of the 16th century.
Formerly the property of the Dennistouns, it now belongs to
the Shaw-Stewarts.
PORTHCAWL, a seaport and urban district in the mid-parliamentary division of Glamorganshire, South Wales, 30 m. by rail W. of Cardiff and 22 m. S.E. of Swansea. Pop. (1901) 1872. The urban district (formed in 1893) is conterminous
with the civil parish of Newton Nottage, which, in addition to
Porthcawl proper, built on the sea-front, comprises the ancient
village of Nottage, 1 m. N., and the more modern village of Newton,
1 m. N.E. of Porthcawl. The natural harbour of Newton
(as it used to be called) was improved by a breakwater, and was
connected by a tramway with Maesteg, whence coal and iron
were brought for shipment. The tramway was converted into
a railway, and in 1865 opened for passenger traffic. In 1866 a
dock (7½ acres) and tidal basin (2½ acres) were constructed, but
since about 1902 they have fallen into disuse and the coal is
diverged to other ports, chiefly Port Talbot. Porthcawl, however,
has grown in popularity as a watering-place. Situated on a
slightly elevated headland facing Swansea Bay and the Bristol
Channel, it has fine sands, rocks and breezy commons, on one of
which, near golf links resorted to from all parts of Glamorgan, is
“ The Rest,” a convalescent home for the working classes,
completed in 1891, with accommodation for eighty persons.
The climate of Porthcawl is bracing, and the rainfall (averaging
25 in.) is about the lowest on the South Wales coast. The district
is described by R. D. Blackmore in his tale The Maid of Sker
(1872), based on a legend associated with Sker House, a
fine Elizabethan building in the adjoining parish of Sker, which
was formerly extra-parochial. The parish church (dedicated to
St John the Baptist) has a pre-Reformation stone altar and an
ancient carved stone pulpit, said to be the only relic of an earlier
church now covered by the sea.
PORT HOPE, a town and port of entry of Durham county, Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, 63 in. N.E. of Toronto by the Grand Trunk railway, and connected with Charlotte, the port for Rochester, New York, by a daily steamboat
service. The population, 5585 in 1881, shrunk in 1901 to 4188,
but is increasing owing to the popularity of the town as a summer
resort. It is picturesquely situated on the side and at the foot
of hills overlooking the lake; and Smith's Creek, by which it is
traversed, supplies abundant water-power. Trade is carried on
in lumber, grain and flour. Trinity College School, a residential
school under Anglican control, has a long and creditable history.
PORT HUDSON, a village in East Baton Rouge Parish,
Louisiana, U.S.A., on the left bank of the Mississippi, about 135 m. above New Orleans. At the sharp turn of the Mississippi
here the Confederates in 1862 built on the commanding
bluffs powerful batteries covering a stretch of about 3 m., their
strongest fortifications along the Mississippi between New Orleans
and Vicksburg. On the night of the 14th of March 1863 Admiral
Farragut, with seven vessels, attempted to run past the batteries,
commanded by Brigadier-General William M. Gardner, but four
of his vessels were disabled and forced to turn back, one, the
“ Mississippi ” was destroyed, and only two, the “ Hartford ” and
the “ Albatross "' got past. General N. P. Banks's land attack,
on the 27th of May, was unsuccessful, the Union loss, nearly
2000, being six times that of the Confederates. A second attack
on the 14th of June, entailed a further Union loss of about
1800 men. But on the 9th of July, two days after the news
of the surrender of Vicksburg, after a siege of 45 days, General
Gardner surrendered the position to General Banks with about
6400 men, 50 guns, 5000 small arms and ammunition, and two
river steamers. The Union losses during the siege were probably
more than 4000; the Confederate losses about 800. The capture
of Vicksburg and Port Hudson secured to the Union the
control of the Mississippi.
PORT HURON, a city and the county-seat of Saint Clair county, Michigan, U.S.A., at the confluence of the Saint Clair and Black rivers, and at the lower end of Lake Huron, about 60 m. N.N.E. of Detroit. Pop. (1900), 19,158 of whom 7142 were foreign-born; (1910 U.S. census) 18,863. It is served by the Grand Trunk and other railways, and by steamboat lines to Chicago
and other ports. A railway tunnel, 6025 ft. long, under the Saint Clair, connects the city with Sarnia, Canada. The tunnel, which has an inside diameter of 20 ft., was constructed by the Grand Trunk railway in 1889–1891 at a cost of about $2,700,000, and was designed by Joseph Hobson (b. 1834). Port Huron is laid out with wide streets, on both sides of the Black river and along the shore of Lake Huron; it has attractive parks and mineral water springs, and is a summer resort. Among its buildings are the court house, the city hall, and a Modern Maccabee Temple—Port Huron being the headquarters of the Knights of the Modern Maccabees (1881), a fraternal society which, in 1910, had a membership of 107,737. Until 1908 Port Huron was the headquarters of the Knights of the Maccabees of the World (founded in 1883; 283,998 members in 1910). Port Huron has large shipping interests, and since 1866 has been the port of entry of the Huron
