William Field Porter

William Field Porter (24 January 1784 – 30 March 1869) was a ship owner from Liverpool, who migrated to South Australia in 1838. He relocated to Auckland in 1841, where he became a member of the New Zealand Parliament.

Porter was born in London in 1784. He was orphaned by 1796 and it is likely he commenced his career at sea shortly after. His first command was the Tiger on a voyage to west Africa, in the last year of the British slave trade, 1807. Her owners were involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Later, in the War of 1812 the Tiger under Porter was granted a letter of marque to operate as a privateer, which it did to some success.

In 1810, he married Alice Roper (1790–1862) in Liverpool, with whom he had four children.

Porter became a prominent sea captain, operating a small fleet out of his own yard at Liverpool. Other members of the Porter family sailed for the British East India Company (e.g. his cousin, George Porter).

In the late 1830s he suffered substantial losses at sea, which his son said were behind his decision to migrate. Porter sold his shipyard in Liverpool and took two of his ships, Porter, and Dorset, provisioned with livestock and a range of personnel (including a doctor, tutors and servants), so that he could set up a relatively self-sufficient farming station in South Australia. He was accompanied by his wife, a son and daughter, William and Alice and an adult son Richard and his wife.

Porter himself captained his namesake, the Porter (a 252-ton brig), which he had built in 1824 and which had been strengthened so that it would be fit for the hazardous voyage. Upon arrival, he used this vessel to set up a shipping service from Port Lincoln and Adelaide to and from other Australian. Porter also built the Dorset (95 tons) in 1838, specifically as a back-up ship for the journey to Australia. This was sold upon arrival.

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