The Hadwen Family of Lancashire

FIFTY YEARS A HUNTSMAN "Willie" Porter's Jubilee.
Loyal friend, fine sportsman, good neighbour, that is how we of the dales know William Curwen Porter to us all the sound of his horn and the music of his hounds bring good cheer as we pause in our work and wish them luck; or perhaps if the pack sweeps along in full cry any where within hail we down tools and join the chase.
For 50 years Will has hunted the Eskdale and Ennerdale Foxhounds, first as huntsman under Tommy Dobson's mastership; then on Tommy's death, as master; half a century of tru sport. It needs a very good man to hunt such country for 10 years, let alone 50, and Will is a good man still.
"The fells seem higher than they did when you and me were you," Will said to me one day, but where the hounds are, there is Will as keen and eager as he was 45 years ago when I first followed the pack.
Tommy Dobson
Tommy Dobson, that mighty hunter of the dales, his name one to conjure with when fell hunting was the topic, had his Jubilee hunt and a great hunt it was, the fox was found so quickly somebody suggested that Tommy must have had it up his sleeve for the occasion. There was a good run, then go ground in Dry Ghyll, and a kill. And there, amogst the grim fortress of rocks, was Tommy. so by luck was I, lowered by the coat collar over the crag face and into they ghyll by many friendly ahnds, for I could not have got there under my own steam. It was a day, amongst many good days with Tommy and Will, to live in the memory.
We all wish Will and Arthur Irving and the hounds a fine hunting and grand sport on Saturday March 12.
The meet, as it should be, is at the King George, which was the King of Prussia in Tommy Dobson's time; but times have changed and " the King" has followed suit. In those far-off days the King's tatie-pots were famous; half a sheep went into the hunt suppers with taties and onions to match; turly a supper fit for any king. And there were great plum-puddings to follow, creamy rice stiff with raisins. You don't know how good rice puddings can be these days, and perhaps a day on the fells with the hounds made them go down all the better.
Porters of Eskdale
The Porters of Eskdale have been there since the days of Good queen Bess. The first of the family to acquire property in the neighbourhood was George Porter, who belonged to a family of Porters connected with many of the leading Cumberland families. George's mother was Frances Lamplughe of Lamplugh, who married William Porter of Allerby. The Allerby estate came to the family of Porter in the 15th Century when Thomas Porter married the daughter and heiress of Thomas Lowther of Allerby.
George Porter was of Weary Hall, Bolton, near Mealsgate, between Cockermouth and Carlisle. There is a tradition that Mary Queen of Scots called there, perhaps on her way from Cockermouth to Carlisle. There was great speculation in land and real estate during the 16th century, owing partly to the disestablishment of the religious houses and hate breaking up of the possessions of the abbeys.
George Porter was born about 1537, and later on in the period his name is frequently met in contemporary records as being connected with property buyings and sellings. Amongst other activities he was the friend and business man of Sir William Pennington, of Muncaster, through whom George acquired property in Eskdale and the neighbourhood, Usthwaite in Irton, and Lowholme and bleatarn in Eskdale which were held of the Penningtons.
The wood on the south slope of the Screes abouve the River Mite is know as Porterthwaite and in it, high up, deep in the woods, are the ruins of a homestead with a garden garth, where, when Tommy Dobson showed it to me more than 40 years ago, ancient apple trees still gallantly blossomed. This was probably one of George Porter's farms.
Lowholme and Esk Bank
But it is as Porter, of Lowholme, that the family is best known locally. Lowholme was a freehold parcel Ó the Manor of Muncaster held of the Lordship of Egremont and here the porters had a good house with, so said Sir Daniel Le Fleming, the Rydal squire, good panelling. The house was burnt down in 1689 and evidently almost at once rebuilt. Here for many generations the Porters of Esdale men of standing and importance, lived and flourished till 1880. It is now on the property of Lord Rea of Eskdale.
Mr. John Porter, of Esk Bank, Eskdale, is the present head of the family of Porter of Lowholme, and Will Porter is his younger brother. There are many branches of the family, amongst them that of Mr. James D. Porter. of Eskdale Post Office, who has given most of his long life to public service and is an outstanding figure in the valley community. (Taken from a newspaper cutting)