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Author: PORTER, James

Biography:

PORTER, James (1752/3-98: DIB)

Lysimachia is attributed to a Dr. Glass by HL. However, DIB and Thuente suggest that the Rev. James Porter, a Presbyterian minister, used James Glass (q.v.) as a pseudonym. On present knowledge, it is impossible to establish Glass’s existence and both names have been included in the database. Porter was born at Tamnawood, Co. Donegal, to Alexander Porter, a farmer and mill-owner (or worker, according to the DIB). His mother’s name is unknown. He attended the University of Glasgow but did not graduate, became a teacher, and in 1787 was licensed to preach and appointed to the church at Greyabbey, Co. Down. In 1780 he married Anna Knox; they had two sons and six daughters. In the 1790s he began writing for the Northern Star, contributing both verse and prose. His opposition to heavy-handed dealings by the local Protestant landowners was vividly expressed in a series of satirical pieces, “Billy Bluff and Squire Firebrand,” which were first published in 1796 in the Northern Star (a vehicle for the United Irishmen) and frequently reprinted in pamphlets. A second series, printed in the Star of the same year, was signed “Sydney” and attacked William Pitt’s policies. Porter’s controversial sermon, printed as “Wind and Weather,” was given in 1797 on the day of government celebration for the failed landing of a French force at Bantry Bay in support of the Irish Rebellion. The sarcastic tenor of the sermon probably influenced subsequent events when Porter was charged and convicted—with no evidence—of being one in a group of insurgents. He was sentenced to death and Anna Porter’s attempts to have the sentence suspended were unavailing (although it was agreed not to draw and quarter his body after death).  He was hanged in sight of both his manse and church in Greyabbey and buried in the abbey churchyard. Before death he asked Anna to send their sons to America. One son, Alexander, became a US senator while the other, James, was attorney general for Louisiana. (DIB 1 Mar. 2021; ODNB 1 Mar. 2021; M. H. Thuente, The Harp Restrung: the United Irishmen and the Rise of Irish Literary Nationalism [1994]; W. T. Latimer, Ulster Biographies [1897]; Ormonde D. P. Waters, “The Rev. James Porter Dissenting Minister of Greyabbey, 1753-1798,” Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society 14 [1990] 80-101)

 

Books written (7):

From the latest edn. with corrections New York: printed at the request of a number of Hibernians by R. Wilson, 1798