Abraham Portal

Abraham Portal (baptised 1726 – 1809) was an English goldsmith and dramatist.

He was the son of a clergyman, Peter William Portal, of Huguenot origin. He started in life as a goldsmith and jeweller on Ludgate Hill, but lost money both in this trade and as a bookseller, and finished his career as a box-keeper at Drury Lane Theatre. It appears from his Poems that Portal was a close friend of John Langhorne. Other friends were Edmund Cartwright and John Scott of Amwell.

In the spring of 1796 Portal seems to have been living in Castle Street, Holborn.

Portal's writings include:

Neither Vortimer nor Olindo and Sophronia was acted.

Portal married Elizabeth Nethersole in 1748; they had a son, who died young, and she died in 1758. He then married Elizabeth Bedwell, and they had nine children. Of these Ann Cracroft Portal married Moreton Walhouse, and was mother of Edward John Littleton, 1st Baron Hatherton.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 

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