Wyndham Raymond Portal, 1st Viscount Portal PC GCMG DSO MVO (9 April 1885 – 6 May 1949) was a British politician.
The eldest son of Sir William Wyndam Portal, 2nd Baronet, and Florence Elizabeth Mary Glyn CBE, daughter of Hon. St Leger Glyn, 2nd son of George Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.
In 1909 he married Lady Louise Rosemary Kathleen Virginia Cairns, MBE, only child of Arthur Cairns, 2nd Earl Cairns.
He was commissioned into the Hampshire Yeomanry in 1903, was promoted Lieutenant in 1905, and transferred to the 9th Lancers later the same year. He transferred to the 1st Life Guards as a Second Lieutenant in 1908 and was promoted Lieutenant again later the same year, but left the Army in 1911. He rejoined the Hampshire Yeomanry in 1914 and served in World War I. He was promoted Captain in 1914 while serving as adjutant of the Royal First Devon Yeomanry. Transferring back to the Life Guards (Special Reserve) in 1915, he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1916 when he took command of the Household Battalion. In 1917 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO). He relinquished command of the battalion in 1918 and reverted to the rank of Captain, but was soon promoted Major and attached to the Machine Gun Corps as a battalion commander, again with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He resigned his commission in 1919.
He was Regional Commissioner for Wales under the Civil Defence Scheme from 1939. He served in government as Additional Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply from 1940–1942, and as Minister of Works and Planning from 1942–1944.
He was subsequently Chairman of the Bacon Development Board and of the Coal Production Council; and last Chairman of the Great Western Railway (1945-48). He was President of the Olympic Games in 1948, and Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire from 1947.
Portal succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1931. In 1935 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Portal, of Laverstoke. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1942, created Viscount Portal in 1945 and awarded the GCMG in 1949.
He was succeeded to the Baronetcy only by his uncle, Sir Spencer John Portal.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lord Reith |
Minister of Works and Planning 1942–1944 |
Succeeded by Duncan Sandys |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by The Lord Mottistone |
Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire 1947–1949 |
Succeeded by The Duke of Wellington |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New title | Viscount Portal 1945–1949 |
Extinct |
| Baron Portal 1935–1949 |
||
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by William Wyndham Portal |
Baronet (of Malshanger) 1931–1949 |
Succeeded by Spencer John Portal |