Edwin Augustus Porcher Collection

Edwin Augustus Porcher (also sometimes cited as EDMUND Augustus Porcher) was born second son to Reverend George Porcher of Maiden Erlegh, Berks. and Francis Amelia Chamier, daughter of John Chamier, Esq. Porcher’s paternal lineage can be traced to French Huguenot ancestry, in a line descending from the Counts of Richebourg. In the 17th century Isaac Porcher de Richebourg and his wife Claude Cherigny fled to South Carolina, then under British rule. The Porcher family remained in the American colonies as merchants for four generations. In 1768, James Du Pré Porcher settled in England, where he sired a son, Josias Du Pré Porcher, Esq. of Winslad House, Devonshire, who became MP for Old Sarum. The latter’s eldest surviving son was Rev. George Porcher , who married Francis Amelia in 1818, and their two sons were George Du Pré Porcher, Esq., barrister, and Edwin Augustus Porcher (Baird 105). Porcher had many family connections to the Royal Navy: his maternal uncle was Commander Frederick Chamier RN, his paternal grandfather Admiral Sir William Burnaby, and his paternal uncle Henry Porcher, Esq., of Arborfield, Berks. (later MP for Clitheroe) (Naval Biographical Dictionary 915).

Some accounts report that Porcher entered the navy in 1837, the same year that the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth closed its doors. Though he may have had some training prior to 1837, it is likely that Porcher received much of his education directly at sea from a naval instructor through the “pitchfork system,” which replaced formal naval training during this period (Dickinson 57). Like his forerunners, he would have studied arithmetic, Euclidean geometry, algebra, plane and spherical trigonometry, and the uses of instruments and projectiles. The new education system also introduced young sailors to the study of Classics in Latin and Greek. Had Porcher studied at the Royal Naval College, he likely would have been instructed in drawing by John Christian Schetky, a specialist in watercolors and a former marine painter to King George IV and King William IV (Dickinson 50). There is some evidence that Porcher drew from artist handbooks such as Samuel Prout's Prout's Microcosm: The Artist's Sketch-book of Groups of Figures, Shipping, and other Picturesque Objects (1841) (see the seated figure in "49. Raines Islet on the Great Barrier Reef [...]" in the National Library of Australia collection).

After short training cruises as Volunteer First Class aboard vessels such as the Donegal, Porcher commenced his first tour of duty as Mate aboard the HMS Fly in 1842. The Fly and HMS Bramble embarked on a four year voyage to Australia, New Guinea, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Porcher accompanied the Fly on its scientific survey of the Northern Australian coastline, particularly the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait. Naturalist Joseph Beete Jukes produced a Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS Fly During the years 1842-1846. Porcher is sometimes recognized as the expedition’s “unofficial” artist, involved in the documentation of geological, zoological and anthropological information (Wright 276). The title of official draughtsman went to the artist Harden S. Melville, who published Sketches in Australia and the Adjacent Islands, selected from a number taken during the surveying voyage of H.M.S. "Fly" and "Bramble" […]. The resemblance between their work suggests Porcher and Melville may have been close collaborators. A copy of Melville’s book (now in a private collection) contains an inserted errata slip inscribed in Porcher’s hand (Christie’s Melbourne Auction Catalogue, excerpt in E.A. Porcher file, National Library of Australia). The notation identifies the names of the Islanders depicted in Plate 18 (which are not identified by the letterpress), which also suggests that Porcher was attuned to the identities of indigenous individuals he encountered on the voyage. Plates 18 and 20 of Melville's Sketches in Australia and the Adjacent Islands appear to correspond to figures pictured in a watercolor attributed to Porcher: "Pacific Ocean, a village in Treacherous Bay, Darnley Island" (National Library of Australia, Canberra).

Returning for a brief period to England in 1846, Porcher was advanced to Mate status in August of 1846, having passed his exams on the 8th of June 1844 (Nautical Standard and Steam Navigation Gazette 532). He departed for duty again on the steam frigate Sidon bound for the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East on November 9, 1846. The Sidon performed basic patrol along the North African coast from Morocco to Egypt, also making trips to Cairo. By now an accomplished amateur scholar and draughtsman, Porcher took great interest in archaeological sites and cultural monuments, describing in letters to his sister such monuments as the Arch of Constantine, Trajan’s Pillar, and the Pyramid of Caius Cestus. Twelve watercolors from this expedition, along with letters and a small log book, are in the private collection of Dr. Bob Brier. These images depict the pyramids of Cairo, Aboukir Castle, Cleopatra’s Needles, and Pompey’s Pillar, as well as coastal scenes of Morocco and the Bay of Naples (Bob Brier, email correspondence).

Porcher set sail on the HMS Cleopatra in May 1849, bound for South and East Asia (as 2nd Lieutenant under Captain Thomas L. Massie). During this tour, Porcher records excursions to Macau, Borneo, and the new treaty ports of Shanghai and Amoy. In his letters to his sister, Madelina, Porcher also indicates that he made two trips to Canton in the company of other officers, meeting with diplomatic officials on these occasions. The Cleopatra was stationed at Hong Kong during the transitional period between the first and second Opium Wars, when Britain’s gunboats protected its trading interests and combatted piracy in the region. By the 1840s, large fleets of pirates were forming in the South China Seas, and the Royal Navy was dispatched to police the waters around Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. The region was at the crossroads of several shipping routes and became the refuge for smuggling and plundering. European involvement in these practices certainly did not help diplomatic relations with the Chinese (Christopher Munn, 72). The Royal Navy did not protect small Chinese merchant vessels, however it was willing to exterminate larger fleets if they were a threat to the British presence. Head money paid for every pirate captured was divided among officers and crew. Piracy increased in the 1850s due to an influx of populations from conflict-ridden Guangdong. The Royal Navy, along with Portuguese, American and Chinese forces, organized campaigns and bombardments of pirate fleets, sometimes destroying villages associated with pirate activity (Munn 245-246). The Cleopatra also patrolled the South China Sea, and was dispatched to Borneo to contend with the Iranun (Illanoon or Lanun) pirates, who had attacked the crew of the HMS Dolphin (see logbook, pages 29-44, and the watercolor “Skirmish with the Illanoon Pirates at Tooncoo on February 16th 1852").

In February of 1854, Porcher had a brief appointment aboard the steam ship Majestic out of Sheerness, under Captain James Hope, serving in the Baltic Sea . In the same year he was appointed to the screw steam Esk out of Portsmouth, under command of Thomas Birch (also in the Baltic). In 1855, at the height of the Crimean War, the Esk joined the Baltic fleet (of 105 vessels) to conduct naval operations, including the bombardment of Sweaborg, for which Porcher received the Baltic medal (Lambert 281-88; Obituary, “The Week’s News,” August 24, 1878, page 1071).

In February of 1857, Porcher was appointed First Lieutenant of the HMS Hibernia, a 104-gun flag ship stationed at Malta. He departed Southampton via the screw steam ship Colombo, arriving at Malta on March 1st. This was not Porcher’s first visit at Malta, having previous docked there with the HMS Sidon in 1848. The history of the British occupation of Malta began in 1798, when Lord Nelson, commander of the British fleet, assisted in the overthrow of the French (who, under Napoleon, had overtaken the Order of St. John). Malta became a Crown Colony in 1813 and served as the central Mediterranean base of the British Empire and Navy. A campaign to “Anglicize” Malta emerged in the 1860s, when British naval supremacy began to experience pressure from Prussia and particularly France, which began expanding its imperial ambitions in North Africa (Cassar 141-181). While stationed on the Hibernia, Porcher made a series of outbound trips aboard the HMS Harpy, the HMS Kertch, and the HMS Boxer. On May 1st, 1858, he was appointed to the command of the Harpy, a paddle wheel vessel, in lieu of the ailing Lieutenant Bruce. The Harpy and its crew were instrumental in assisting Nathan Davis in his archaeological excavations of Carthage and nearby remains, especially Utica, and transported the antique sculptures and mosaic pavements that Davis and his team unearthed. The 467 objects that were unearthed, including twenty-eight Roman mosaics dating from the late first to the mid sixth century AD and a number of Punic votive stelae, were transported to the British Museum on naval vessels. Five of Porcher’s watercolors were published in Nathan Davis’s Carthage and Her Remains (see watercolor descriptions). Aboard the Kertch, Porcher made four major outbound journeys: to “Leghorn” (Livorno) and Naples (October 29, 1859 - November 22, 1859); to Tunis (February, 1860); to Tunis, Bizerta, Tabakah (June 7, 1860 – July 4, 1860); and to Lata and Messina (July 21, 1860 – July 30, 1860). It appears that three of Porcher’s watercolors from these journeys to North Africa illustrate Nathan Davis’s travels through these regions, suggesting that Davis might have commissioned Porcher to complete these views retroactively: “70. Tunis. The Ruins of Baal Hammon Molech […],” “71. The Mosque of Dowar-Eshutt […],” and “75. Village of Camart […].”

Porcher likely met Lieutenant Rupert Murdoch Smith of the Royal Engineers through Nathan Davis, Smith having just arrived in Malta from his excavations with the British Museum’s Keeper of Antiquities, Charles Newton, at Halicarnassus and Cnidus (Thorn 17). Inspired by their recent archaeological activities, Porcher and Smith devised a plan to explore the ancient archaeological sites of Cyrene: “I have formed a project of going to examine Cyrene and the Pentapolis and hope to be able to carry it out. The only information about it is Captain Beechey’s book… I should like to go and make plans of the principal sites between Cyrene and Bengazi but chiefly Cyrene itself” (R.M. Smith to Charles Newton, 18th May 1860, British Mus. G.R. Dept. Orig. Lett. II (1861-1868) fol. 705). The Hibernia log-book includes entries for the HMS Boxer, which took Porcher and Smith as far as Benghazi. Their self-funded ten month expedition yielded the earliest photographic views of the Necropolis at Cyrene and at least 89 drawings (views and plans), a number of which Porcher donated to the British Museum in 1865. Smith and Porcher arrived in Cyrene on Dec 23, 1860 and began clearing debris from rock-cut tombs, using a tomb near the Fountain of Apollo as their “tomb of residence”, and a range of rock-cut chambers as kitchen, stables, and store rooms.

When the British Museum learned of Porcher and Smith's discoveries, the Trustees awarded them 100 pounds towards expenses and 500 pounds to hire a team of workmen to carry out more extensive excavations (see Thorn). 148 sculptures and sculptural fragments were retrieved at their dig sites, which forms an important component of the British Museum’s antiquities collection. An illustrated publication of their expedition, History of the Recent Discoveries at Cyrene Made During an Expedition to the Cyrenaica in 1860-61 was published by Day & Son in 1864. The lithographic plates are adapted from Porcher’s watercolors, plans, and maps. In October 1861, Porcher sailed back to Malta via the HMS Melpomene, which also transported 63 cases of antiquities (22 cases were shipped with the Assurance in June 1861) (see log book, YCBA). There is indication that he was assigned to the Hibernia once more, and reported for duty on the Bustler and Redpole, steam tugs tendered to the Hibernia (Smith 5). As of 1861, Porcher was classified with the Transport Service Agents Afloat and on Dec 27 1861, he was appointed to rank of Commander.

Between 1862-3, Porcher produced images of Ireland and the English south coast. On January 12, 1863, he was elected Fellow of Royal Geographic Society (Athenaeum, January 17 1863, 89). He received his own command on March 4, 1865, becoming Captain of the HMS Sparrowhawk, based in the Northern Pacific station of Esquimalt, Vancouver Island, British North America. A ship’s log indicates he traveled the customary trans-Atlantic route via Rio de Janeiro, with stops at Madeira, the Canaries and the Cape Verde Islands. The ship called at Valparaiso on the Chilean coast, which was the southern Pacific headquarters of the British Navy, and Callao, Peru. After reaching Hawaii, Porcher sailed on to the Pacific Northwest. A personal diary housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library provides an account of Porcher’s activities between March 9, 1865, and October 14, 1868.

Reproduced in its entirety (with edits and annotations) by Dwight L. Smith in A Tour of Duty in the Pacific Northwest, and in typed transcript form at the Beinecke (Box 5, folder 1), the diary chronicles Porcher’s travels and relations with the local indigenous populations. In July of 1867, Porcher delivered a lecture at the Mechanics’ Institute on the formation of coral reefs in Australia, demonstrating his interest in the promotion of scientific knowledge: “Capt Porcher very minutely described the process, illustrating his lecture by chalk drawings on the blackboard… The lecturer was listened to with the greatest attention, and whenever a pause occurred the gratified audience loudly applauded” (British Colonist, July 31, 1867).

During this tour of duty, Porcher was given additional diplomatic responsibilities. He was invited by the Governor of Vancouver Island to investigate a property dispute between the Canadian Company and the Flume Company referred to by the local press as the “Grouse Creek War” (British Colonist, August 2, 1867). He was also made a magistrate before a northward journey to territories where relations with indigenous groups were seen as contentious. This allowed him to arbitrate in disputes with indigenous groups and in inter-tribal conflicts impeding on British activities. Several views of the Christian mission at Metlakatla (Maaxłakxaała, which means "saltwater pass") and Fort Simpson were produced. A few of Porcher’s drawings were published as engravings in The Columbia Mission Annual Report (10th and 11th volumes, 1868, 1869). He departed Esquimalt in April, 1868, and arrived back in England on October 14.

During his travels (in 1865 and 1866), Porcher’s residence was listed at 50 Montague Square, London, so it is possible that he returned to reside there upon his return to civilian life (Yule). He was promoted to Captain on October 16, 1868, and married in the spring of 1869 in Alton, Hampshire (England & Wales, FreeBMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915). By 1871, he and Elizabeth Porcher were living in Marylebone, London, with his sister Agnes Rick and their five servants (1871 England Census). He officially retired from service in 1872. It appears that Porcher had a child by the name of Frances Mary Kotar, who is listed in 1873 as “an infant by Edwin Augustus Porcher esq (a Captain in the Royal Navy) her guardian George Du Pre Porcher” in the legal case “Stratton v. Ravenscroft” (C 16/897/S297, Cause # 1873 S297, National Archives, Kew). Although it does not appear that Porcher conducted any further official Royal Navy business, he had not withdrawn from public life. He attended meetings of the Royal Geographic Society, and the Council of the Hakluyt Society, for which he was listed as member in 1876 and 1877 (listed in Council, Yule and Veer). Never tiring from travel, it appears that Porcher’s last sketching tour in continental Europe was conducted for pleasure, as many of his drawings depict resort and spa towns. This body of work, dating from 1869 to 1877, consists of views of cultural sites and picturesque landscapes in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Belgium, and Italy. Porcher died on August 13, 1878, at Homburg, Germany, aged 53 (England & Wales, National Probate Calendar, 1878).