{"id":1404,"date":"2020-03-05T19:40:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T19:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=1404"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T20:13:17","slug":"robert-proctor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=1404","title":{"rendered":"Robert Porter (1775-1859) author of Martham"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Robert Porter<\/strong> <strong>(1775-1859)<\/strong> <strong>author of Martham<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Robert wrote &#8220;<em>The Strangers Guide Book for the Polite Village of Martham&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1408\" style=\"width:740px;height:359px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-024-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-024-768x374.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sketch of Robert Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Robert was the author of the book &#8220;The Strangers Guide Book for the Polite Village of Martham&#8221;. The book was published around about 1830.  He was the village schoolmaster at Martham and he wrote most of the book whilst living at<em><a href=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=14271\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> The Vicarage<\/a><\/em> although he was never the vicar. The book is deposited in the Norfolk Records Office in Norwich (Ref: 90\/1,2.536) and is small being about A5 size. It is written by hand in a jocular tone and includes general historical and local statistical material as well as sketches, maps, drawings of comically distorted figures and caricatures including a miniature portrait of the author himself. There are informative sketches of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martham Green<\/a><\/em> just&nbsp; after the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=6318\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inclosure Award.<\/a><\/em>&nbsp; There is a plan of houses in Martham and a map of estates in Martham, West Somerton and Winterton belonging to John Barker Huntington Esq. Other entries show a surveyor of 1824; a painting of the ship &#8216;Mercury&#8217; on her way from Tobago in 1800. Pasted in and inserted are prints and copy prints including adjacent churches and halls; abstracts of accounts of East and West Flegg Poor Law Union 1823-1824, 1828-1829 and of Tunstead and Happing Union 1829-1830.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"840\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-840x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12140\" style=\"width:402px;height:489px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-840x1024.jpg 840w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-246x300.jpg 246w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-768x937.jpg 768w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-1259x1536.jpg 1259w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-1679x2048.jpg 1679w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-1200x1464.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-to-Martham-cover-scaled.jpg 1574w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Cover<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"913\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-1024x913.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12142\" style=\"width:456px;height:406px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-1024x913.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-300x267.jpg 300w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-768x685.jpg 768w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-1536x1369.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-2048x1826.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-1200x1070.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Strangers-Guidebook-cover2-1-scaled.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Opening page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"751\" height=\"989\" data-id=\"13149\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-002-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13149\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-002-1.jpg 751w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-002-1-228x300.jpg 228w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 751px) 85vw, 751px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Village Green map c1830<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"816\" height=\"988\" data-id=\"1593\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1593\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-001.jpg 816w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-001-248x300.jpg 248w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-001-768x930.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 816px) 85vw, 816px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Map of Village Green c1830<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"752\" height=\"940\" data-id=\"1592\" src=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1592\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830.jpg 752w, https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Polite-Village-of-Martham-map-1830-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 752px) 85vw, 752px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">White Street. ponds and footpaths <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption wp-element-caption\">The above sketches are examples of the many drawings included in Robert&#8217;s book and provide a fascinating insight into the properties surrounding the Village Green c1830.<br> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a 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The book was published around about 1830. He was the village schoolmaster at Martham and he wrote most of the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/?page_id=1404\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Robert Porter (1775-1859) author of Martham&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1404","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34350,"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1404\/revisions\/34350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marthamnorfolk.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}