Maurice Vidal Portman

Maurice Vidal Portman (21 March 1860 in London, Ontario, Canada - 14 February 1935 in Axbridge, Somerset, UK) was a British naval officer, who is best known for his documentation and pacification of several Andamanese tribes between 1879 and 1901.

M. V. Portman was the third son of The Hon. Maurice Berkeley Portman (of his first marriage, to Helen Vidal Harris) who was in turn the third son of the Edward Portman, 1st Viscount Portman. He joined the Royal Indian Marine at the age of 16 and was some time in charge of the Viceroy's yacht. In July 1879 he was stationed at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands and made Officer in Charge of the Andamanese, a post which he held for more than 20 years with few interruptions (including December 1880 to December 1883 on sick leave, March 1887 to March 1888 on furlough). He was able to befriend the natives to pacify some previously hostile tribes, especially the Onge people of Little Andaman Island, but he did not hesitate in using force against them on occasion.

During his stay at Port Blair he took a large number of photographs of the Andamanese, including some at the request of British Museum (at his own expense) and the British Government of India (on payment). These plates are now scattered among several museums and may be partly unpublished. He also wrote two books, Notes of the Languages of the South Andaman Group of Languages (1898) and A History of Our Relations with the Andamanese (1899). Portman also composed a significant collection of ethnographic objects during his time on the Andaman Islands that are now in the collections of the British Museum.

His obituary states that he had a "frail physique" and suffered from ill health. After retiring as invalid in 1901, he went back to Britain where he did some journalism and "some valuable Secret Service work" during World War I. He was a member of the Union Club. He never married and left no descendants.

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