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The Symington Family Ancestry in Oporto
1652-2006
John Atkinson was born in 1758 and died in 1844. It is not certain when he first came to Oporto, but there is a passport in his name that is issued and signed by the Duke of Wellington. This is dated 1814.
He is also a signatory of a letter to George Canning, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs dated Oporto, 10th May 1825 complaining that he and other merchants were excluded from the Factory House. From this it is clear that he had been a merchant in the city of Oporto for some years. Other signatories to this letter are John Graham and George Reid (amongst several others).
John Atkinson married Ellen Latimer. They had 5 children, as follows:
1) The oldest child of John and Ellen Atkinson: Edward (1819-1882) married Emily Whiteley.
They had eleven children; one boy, Latimer, and ten daughters.
Of these ten daughters, nine married. Their respective husbands were as follows: Hugh Ritson, Albert Kendall, Charles Adam (a partner in W & J Graham's), Gilbert Elles (and after his death; James Yates, also a partner in W & J Graham's), Honorious Grant, Robert Atkinson (cousin), George Dagge, José Valle and Charles Bartlett.
Various Oporto families married direct descendants of the above, including Coverely, Shore, Street, Wall, Rumsey, D'Albertanson (headmaster of the Oporto British School), Sellers, Delaforce, Tait and Symington.
2) The second child of John and Ellen Atkinson was Ellen (1822-1899). She married Reginald Quarles Harris, from the Port company of the same name founded in 1680. His ancestor, John Harris is recorded as shipping 98 pipes of Port in 1689.
3) The third child of John and Ellen Atkinson was Eliza who married (in 1846) the Rev. Edward Whiteley, the last Chaplain to the British Factory. Edward and Eliza Whiteley had seven children; their third child married George Reid.
4) The fourth child of John and Ellen Atkinson was Margaret (1826-1898). She married Henry Murat, one of the oldest English Port shipping families in Oporto.
5) The fifth child of John and Ellen Atkinson was John Whiteley Atkinson (1830-1899). In 1869 he married Maria José de Sousa e Barros Leitão de Carvalhosa. She was the daughter of D. Carlota van Zeller and Ignacio José Sampaio de Pina e Barros e Sousa Leitão de Carvalhosa, son of the Visconde de Santarem.
From this marriage of John and Maria José Atkinson, came two children, Robert (who married his cousin Abigail Atkinson) and Beatrice Atkinson.
Beatrice Atkinson (1870-1916) married Andrew James Symington (1863-1939) in 1891. Andrew James had come to Oporto in 1882. Their children were Maurice, Mabel (who married Phillip Elles son of Lucy Atkinson), Ronald, John, and Edgar Symington.
Port Trade connections
Edward Atkinson (1819-1882).
John Atkinson's oldest son Edward was General Manager of Smith Woodhouse. His son; Latimer Atkinson followed him as General Manager of Smith Woodhouse.
'On the death of old Mr Robert Woodhouse in 1852, Mr Flude was commissioned by the London house to proceed to Oporto and take over the management of the business, for which purpose he was entrusted with power of attorney, which he eventually made over to the late Mr Edward Atkinson, whose son, Latimer, now holds the position'. Oporto Old and New, Charles Sellers 1899.
John Whiteley Atkinson (1830-1899).
John Atkinson's youngest son, John Whiteley Atkinson (father of Beatrice Atkinson), was General Manager of Offley Forrester for many years. 'The present manager in Oporto is Mr Arthur Standring: he succeeded the late Mr John Whiteley Atkinson who had been for nearly fifty years in the service of the firm' Oporto Old and New, Charles Sellers 1899.
John Whiteley Atkinson must have worked with Baron Forrester for some years as the latter died in 1861.
Beatrice Atkinson's grandmother was Carlota van Zeller. Thus the Symingtons are also related to the van Zeller family sometime owners of Quinta do Noval and of Quinta de Roriz (which the Symingtons now jointly own with Joao van Zeller).
Through the van Zellers they are also related to the Guedes, owners of Offley, Sandeman and Ferreira.
Maurice Symington married Eileen Hardey Mason in 1924. Her father, George Hardey Mason was a partner in the firm of Kopke during the 19th century.
Walter Maynard
1652
Walter Maynard was the brother of Thomas Maynard, the first English Consul in Portugal. Thomas Maynard had been appointed by Oliver Cromwell to Lisbon in 1656. His appointment was confirmed after the Restoration by King Charles II in 1660.
Thomas Maynard appointed his brother, Walter, to the position of Consul in Oporto in 1659.
Walter Maynard, who lived in Rua Nova dos Ingleses (now Rua do Infante Dom Henrique), is recorded in the official Portuguese archives as exporting 39 pipes of Port in 1652. This is the second oldest (by one year) recorded shipment of Port by a British merchant from Oporto and substantially pre-dates the famous Methuen Treaty of 1703 and also the foundation date of any British Port company.
Walter Maynard married Leonor da Silva Moura, who had been born in Oporto in Rua do pé das Aldas.
Summary
The Symington family of Oporto are directly descended via Beatrice Atkinson, from Walter Maynard, Henry Whittingham and Samuel Palmer.
The Maynards, Whittinghams and Palmers, together with Richard Pervis Rowland Hill, Thomas and Henry Manin, were the first British merchants ever recorded as exporting Port from Oporto.
There have been 354 years and 12 and 13 generations from Walter Maynard to the present generation of Symingtons who are active partners in the family Port companies.
Paul Symington, Oporto, 27th March 2006
Sources
British Wine Merchants in Porto prior to the Methuen Treaty,
Pedro de Brito. Published 2000. ISBN 972-98481-0-6
Oporto Older and Newer, Gerald Cobb. Published 1965.
Oporto Old and New, Charles Sellers. Published 1899 Herbert E Harper.
The Englishman's Wine, Sarah Bradford. Published 1969 Macmillan.
Van Zeller - Symington, Ensaios Genealogicos. Vol I & II, Vasco Valente. Published 1916.
Van Zeller, Descendencia de Arnaldo João van Zeller, Vasco Valente. Published 1932.
The Factory House at Oporto, John Delaforce. Published 1990 Christies.
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