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William Porter
(1805 - 1880) Ireland - South Africa

William Porter

Administrator

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Porter was born in Ireland and practiced as an advocate in Belfast in the present Northern Ireland, until 1939, when he was appointed as Attorney General to the Cape Colony. He was accompanied to the Cape by his lifelong companion, Hugh Lynar, whith whom he lived and worked throughout his adult life.

Porter played an active and influential role in the public life of the colony, earning the accolade of "father of Cape Liberalism". His influence in public life increased when he beacme a member of the Legislative Assembly in 1869. His reputation as a liberal thinker rested on his views on a color-blind, qualified franchise, his stance against capital punishment and his conviction that Church and State sould be separate.

At the time of Lynar's death in 1873, three weeks later Porter left the Cape Colony permanently, and died in Ireland in his 75th year.

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Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001

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