Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Mentioned in Despatches
(3)

First World War, and rose to become first a flight commander and then a squadron commander, flying light bombers on the Western Front
.

In the early stages of the

Tube Investments, in what was known as the "Aluminium War". Afterward he served as chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation
.

Early life

Portal was born at Eddington House,

Huguenot origins, having arrived in England in the 17th century.[2] He was related to the goldsmith and dramatist Abraham Portal, and more distantly so to Wyndham Portal, 1st Viscount Portal.[1]

Charles Portal, or "Peter" as he was nicknamed, was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford.[1] Portal had intended to become a barrister but he did not finish his degree and he left undergraduate life to enlist as a private soldier in 1914.[3]

First World War

At the beginning of the

dispatch rider in the motorcycle section of the Royal Engineers on the Western Front.[4] Portal was made a corporal very soon after joining the Army and he was commissioned as a second lieutenant only weeks later.[3] Around the same time, Portal was commended in Sir John French's first despatch of September 1914.[1] In December 1914, Portal was given command of all riders in the 1st Corps Headquarters Signals Company.[1]

In July 1915, with the need for dispatch riders decreasing, Portal transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).[4] He served first as an observer and then, from November 1915, as a flying officer.[5] He graduated as a pilot in April 1916, and joined No. 60 Squadron flying Morane biplanes on the Western Front.[4] He became a flight commander with No. 3 Squadron flying BE2c aircraft on the Western Front on 16 July 1916.[6] Portal was promoted to temporary major in June 1917[4] and given command of No. 16 Squadron flying RE8 aircraft on the Western Front at the same time.[4] He was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel on 17 June 1918[7] and given command of No. 24 (Training) Wing at RAF Grantham in August 1918.[4] Portal was awarded the Military Cross in January 1917, the citation for which reads:

For conspicuous gallantry in action. He has done excellent artillery work in the air, often in bad weather and at low altitudes; he has always set his flight the best of examples. On one occasion he shot down a hostile machine.[8]

He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 18 July 1917 and a Bar to his DSO on 18 July 1918. The DSO's citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. For many months he has done magnificent work in co-operation with the artillery. During an attack he succeeded in silencing nine active hostile batteries, ranging our artillery. His splendid example has been of the greatest value.[9]

The bar's citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. During a period of four months, chiefly under adverse weather conditions, he repeatedly carried out successful raids by day and night, his ingenuity and daring enabling him to drop many tons of bombs on important enemy posts. One night he crossed the lines five times, only landing between each flight to replenish with bombs. Another day he took on single-handed five enemy machines, and drove down three of them—a most gallant and splendid feat. On another day, despite thick mist, he registered one of our batteries on an enemy battery, causing the destruction of one pit and obtaining one fire and two explosions; and another day, flying for 5 1/4 hours, he carried out two very successful counter-battery shoots, observing 350 rounds. He has always set a most magnificent example to the squadron under his command.[10]

Inter-war career

In August 1919 Portal was appointed to a permanent commission in the

wing commander on 1 July 1925,[12] he attended the senior officers' war course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, in 1926 before taking over No. 7 Squadron flying Vickers Virginia bombers in March 1927[4] and concentrated on improving bombing accuracy.[1]

Portal attended the Imperial Defence College in 1929 and became deputy director of Plans in the Directorate of Operations & Intelligence at the Air Ministry in December 1930.[4] Promoted to group captain on 1 July 1931,[13] he was appointed commander of British forces in Aden in February 1934,[4] in which role he tried to control the local tribesmen by use of an air blockade.[1] Promoted to air commodore on 1 January 1935,[14] he joined the Directing Staff at the Imperial Defence College in January 1936.[4] Portal was promoted to air vice-marshal on 1 July 1937[15] before being appointed Director of Organization at the Air Ministry on 1 September 1937.[16]

Second World War

Second World War
.

Appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1940 Birthday Honours.[4]

On 25 October 1940, Portal was appointed as

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1942 Birthday Honours.[24]

The Yalta Conference. Portal is shown standing behind Churchill.

Portal accompanied Churchill to all the great conferences and made a good impression on Americans.[1] In January 1943, at the Casablanca Conference, the Combined Chiefs of Staff selected him to coordinate the bomber forces of both the United States and Britain in a combined bomber offensive over Germany.[1] The forces were transferred to U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the duration of Operation Overlord;[1] but when their control reverted to the Combined Chiefs, Portal still advocated area bombing of German cities instead of specific targets, such as Axis oil production facilities.[25] He was promoted to Marshal of the Royal Air Force on 1 January 1944.[26]

Seated in May 1943 around a conference table aboard the SS QUEEN MARY are, left to right: Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, General Sir Alan Brooke, Mr Winston Churchill. Prime Minister Churchill is presiding over the meeting at the end of the table.

In early 1944, Portal's view of strategic bombing changed; he felt that bombers could also play a more auxiliary role in the allied offensive. (Much of what is known about Portal's thinking is based on memoranda he wrote.) He argued for the new approach on the basis of the huge increase in the size of the bomber force, which would carry out not just precision bombing but also indiscriminate

area bombing by night of all German cities with populations exceeding 100,000. Portal thought that the resulting damage to the German war effort and civilian morale would lead to victory within six months. A second memorandum in 1945 made a similar argument.[25]

In March 1945, Churchill gave the final order to stop Portal's strategy of area bombing, after the firestorm of Dresden a few weeks earlier. Churchill subsequently distanced himself from the bombing writing that "the destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied Bombing".[27]

Post-war activities

St. Mary's parish church and cemetery, Funtington, where Lord Portal of Hungerford's ashes are buried.

In 1945, after the war's end, Portal retired from the RAF and on 12 October 1945 he was raised to the peerage as

Member of the Order of Merit on 1 January 1946.[30] He was also awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal on 15 March 1946[31] and appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Dutch Order of Orange-Nassau on 18 November 1947.[32] He was also appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Belgian Order of the Crown with Palm and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre, 1940, with Palm on 27 August 1948.[33]

From 1946 to 1951, Portal was Controller of Production (Atomic Energy) at the

coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953.[37]

Portal was elected Chairman of British Aluminium and in 1958/1959 he fought in the City of London's "Aluminium War" against a hostile takeover bid by Sir Ivan Stedeford, chairman and chief executive of Tube Investments. T.I. along with its ally Reynolds Metals of the US, won the takeover battle, and in the process, rewrote the way the city of London conducted its business in relation to shareholders and investors. Stedeford replaced Portal as Chairman of British Aluminium. In 1960 Portal was elected chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation.[38] Portal died from cancer at his home at West Ashling near Chichester on 22 April 1971.[1] His ashes are buried near his home in Funtington churchyard.[39]

Family

In July 1919, Portal married Joan Margaret Welby (1898–1996); they had a son (who died at birth) and two daughters.[1] The viscountcy died with him but he was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his elder daughter, Rosemary Ann, who died in 1990.[1]

Arms

Coat of arms of Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Crest
Issuant from an astral crown Or a portal between two towers Proper.
Escutcheon
Argent a lion rampant Sable between a fleur-de-lys Azure and a rose Gules barbed and seeded Proper on a chief of the third an astral crown Or.
Supporters
Dexter a pilot of the Royal Air Force, sinister a mechanic of the Royal Air Force, both in service dress Proper.
Motto
Armet Nos Ultio Regum[40]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Portal, Charles Frederick Algernon." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved: 9 July 2012.
  2. ^ Richards 1978, pp. 6–11.
  3. ^ a b Probert 1991, p. 23.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Portal." Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved: 29 July 2012.
  5. ^ "No. 29563". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 April 1916. p. 4328.
  6. ^ "No. 29691". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 August 1916. p. 7636.
  7. ^ "No. 30776". The London Gazette. 2 July 1918. p. 7771.
  8. ^ "No. 29898". The London Gazette. 9 January 1917. p. 462.
  9. ^ "No. 30188". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 July 1917. p. 7213.
  10. ^ "No. 30813". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 July 1918. p. 8739.
  11. ^ "No. 31486". The London Gazette. 1 August 1919. p. 9865.
  12. ^ "No. 33063". The London Gazette. 3 July 1925. p. 4456.
  13. ^ "No. 33731". The London Gazette. 30 June 1931. p. 4250.
  14. ^ "No. 34119". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1934. p. 16.
  15. ^ "No. 34414". The London Gazette. 2 July 1937. p. 4253.
  16. ^ "No. 34432". The London Gazette. 3 September 1937. p. 5561.
  17. ^ "No. 34594". The London Gazette. 31 January 1939. p. 689.
  18. ^ "No. 34742". The London Gazette. 28 November 1939. p. 7963.
  19. ^ "No. 34949". The London Gazette. 20 September 1940. p. 5579.
  20. ^ a b c Probert 1991, p. 24.
  21. ^ "No. 34989". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 November 1940. p. 6492.
  22. ^ "No. 35525". The London Gazette. 14 April 1942. p. 1648.
  23. ^ a b Probert 1991, p. 25.
  24. ^ "No. 35586". The London Gazette. 5 June 1942. p. 2478.
  25. ^ a b "The Logic Behind the Destruction of Dresden." Der Spiegel, 13 February 2009. Retrieved: 29 July 2012.
  26. ^ "No. 36309". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1943. p. 43.
  27. ^ "British Bombing Strategy in World War Two." BBC, 17 February 2011. Retrieved: 29 July 2012.
  28. ^ "No. 37305". The London Gazette. 12 October 1945. p. 5026.
  29. ^ "No. 37461". The London Gazette. 8 February 1946. p. 864.
  30. ^ "No. 37407". The London Gazette. 28 December 1945. p. 7.
  31. ^ "No. 37501". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 March 1946. p. 1379.
  32. ^ "No. 38125". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 November 1947. p. 5423.
  33. ^ "No. 38390". The London Gazette. 27 August 1948. p. 4724.
  34. ISSN 1476-4687
    .
  35. ISBN 978-0747579854
    .
  36. ^ "No. 39575". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 1952. p. 3349.
  37. ^ "No. 40020". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 November 1953. p. 6268.
  38. ^ Probert 1991, p. 26.
  39. ^ pixeltocode.uk, PixelToCode. "Charles, Viscount Portal". Westminster Abbey.
  40. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1956.

Bibliography

External links

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External image
image icon Portrait in oils of Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal
Military offices
Preceded by Officer Commanding
Aden Command

Air Officer Commanding from 1 January 1935
1934–1935 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Director of Organisation
1937–1939 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Air Member for Personnel
1939–1940 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command
1940 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chief of the Air Staff
1940–1946 		Succeeded by
Government offices
New office Controller of Production (Atomic Energy)
Controller Atomic Energy from 1950
1946–1951 		Succeeded by
Business positions
Unknown Chairman of British Aluminium
1953–1958 		Succeeded by
New title
Corporation formed
 Chairman of the British Aircraft Corporation
1960–1963 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation
Viscount Portal of Hungerford

1946–1971 		Extinct
Baron Portal of Hungerford
1945–1971 		Succeeded by
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