Reginald Porter was born at the Mother's Lying in Home in the East End of London in 1922.He came  from a family of dock workers,one John Porter migrated to London from Halstead in Essex about 1870 & set up home with Rosina Harrison the daughter of a Police constable & went on to have 6 children  before marrying in 1889.John Porter is Reginald's GreatGrandfather. Reginald's father was Arthur E Porter a docker b.1900 who married Beatrice Neatherway in  1920.Beatrice,a pianist was the daughter of Walter Neatherway a docks engine driver one of 12  children of John James Neatherway b.1831 in Walworth Surrey who had several jobs involved in the  dockyard eventually becoming a wharf manager.After the death of his 1st. wife Emma Tyrell in 1875  John James married Maria Piper in 1876 & went on to have 6 more children making a total of 18 in  all.
 John James Neatherway's father was James Neatherway a painter & glazier b.1810 London who enjoyed  some success along with his father also James b.1789 in his chosen profession which allowed him to  marry into the well-to-do Fry family taking Emma Cornelia Fry as his bride in 1830 at Holy Trinity  Church in Newington Surrey.
 Unfortunately the business foundered in 1833 & father & son ended up in Court for non payment of  debts with James the son being dispatched to Marshalsea Prison the notorious Gaol made even more  notorious by Charles Dickens several years later in his novel Little Dorrit based on the  experiences of his own father who was there in 1824.
 James the father ended his life in poverty by dying in the Workhouse in 1866. James the son did recover from his ordeal & went on to have a total of 7 children. James' wife Ellen Cornelia Fry was born in 1810 in Newington Surrey & was the youngest of 9  children of John Fry Jnr. a merchant & sugar refiner & Honnor Hancock Westcott who married on the  7th. of July 1792 at St.Dionis Backchurch in Fleet St.Ellen died in 1849 aged 39. Ellen's father John Fry Jnr. departed for Philadelphia a few months after marriage where he had  his home & business,he is listed in the 1790 US census as a merchant living in N.3rd.St.Phil.It's  believed he came back to England with Alfred Augustus his son from his 1st. marriage to Elizabeth  Head in search of a new wife.The couple remained there until 1797 where they had 2 daughters  Honnor Frances in 1793 & Hannah Westcott Fry in 1795.On his return to England John Fry Jnr. went  into business with William Osborne & started a sugar refining business in Goulston St. Whitechapel  made infamous in the 1870's by the discovery of one of Jack the Ripper's victims in an alleyway in  the street.
 John Fry Jnr. lived out his life in South St. Finsbury, dying in 1810 a few months after his  daughter Ellen Cornelia's birth.He was 48.
 John's father also John Snr. was a cheesemonger from Melksham Wilts. being born there in 1733 to  John Fry & Mary Storrs, his older brother Joseph founded the Fry's Chocolate Co. & Fry's  Typefoundry, his nephew,son of his younger brother William Storrs Fry married Elizabeth Gurney who  was more famously known as Elizabeth Fry prison reformer & anti slave campaigner. John Snr. died in 1803 & in addition to John Jnr. he left behind 2 daughters,Anne who went on to  marry Jasper Capper in 1783, a linen draper who was a close friend & Brother-in-Law of John Fry Jnr. & Frances  Brewster Fry who married Joel Cadbury.
 John Fry Jnr's wife Honnor Hancock Westcott was the eldest of 11 children of John Westcott a  slater & Hannah Frances Hancock who married on the 7th. of March 1771 at St.Andrew's Church  Holborn, Honnor was born in 1770 in Gray's Inn Lane in Holborn which had been the family home from  at least the 1730's.
 John & Hannah Westcott inherited the business Westcott & Hancock from John's parents Peter  Westcott & Honour nee Dunning.Peter Westcott came to London & started the business with Hannah  Hancock's father Thomas Hancock,both were from Devon.Peter Westcott died in 1757 & stated in his  will that his wife Honour nee Dunning & his son John should run the company for 3 years & after  that should sell it if they no longer wanted to manage it,He left them both the sum of £200 & £5  to his 2 surviving daughters Elizabeth & Honnor to buy a mourning ring.The bequests of £200 going  to them if the business was sold after 3 years.
 The business wasn't sold & John was given sole charge & turned into a very profitable business. John died suddenly in 1790 leaving behind a pregnant wife & 7 surviving children & no apparent  will.
 John's wife Hannah was made executor of her husband's estate along with her brother William  Christopher Hancock the same year & continued the business making her youngest brother Booth  Hancock manager.In 1791 whilst going through John's papers Booth came across an undated &  unwitnessed will left behind by John Westcott in which he left the sum of £5000 to his oldest  daughter Honnor Hancock Westcott, his wife nor any of his other children were mentioned. Having gone through the bereavement of her husband dying as she thought intestate & the birth of  her youngest daughter Jane Sarah Susanna (who incidentally went on to marry Alfred Augustus Fry the  son of John Fry Jnr. & his 1st. wife Elizabeth Head) 2 months later & now having eventually got  her financial affairs in order one can only imagine her reaction on being presented with this will  by her brother Booth.To complicate matters more Honnor Hancock Westcott was about to marry John  Fry Jnr.
 The will was put before the Prerogative Court of Canterbury for proving but was still an issue at  the time of the marriage of Honnor to John Fry Jnr. so Hannah with the help of her lawyers made  Honnor & John Fry Jnr. enter into a marriage agreement whereas John Fry Jnr. would deposit the sum  of £2000 into a special trust if the will was proved,this sum going to his wife Honnor after his  death,in the meantime the dividends from the £2000 would be shared between John Fry Jnr. & his  mother-in-law.The trustees of this settlement were Jasper Capper, John's brother-in-law on his part  & William Christopher Hancock on his mother-in-law's part. The will remained unproved at the time Hannah was making her own will,in this she left the bulk  of her estate to her daughter Honnor but this was quickly removed in a codicil after they fell out. Honnor was left 2 cloaks by her mother Hannah & the care of her  children.Hannah died a few months later in Oct.1794 aged 40.Honnor at this time was in America &  didn't return until 1797.
 Hannah also made provision for her 2 surviving sons Peter Thomas & John Hancock Westcott stating  that they should be brought into the slating business by Booth as apprentices "if they so choose"  but stipulating that they mustn't work along side the workmen but be employed in the management of  the accout books only & if they chose not to come into the business Booth should apprentice them  in a business "of their choosing".It's unclear what Peter Thomas did except to write for  Periodicals but John became a Lt. in the Royal Marines.
 Honnor Hancock Westcott the wife of John Fry Jnr. was a wealthy woman in her own right thanks  largely to the legacy left her by her father John but also from her husband's estate left to her  after his death in 1810 where in his will he describes his wife as "that adorable being". Honnor became the matriarch of the family & took in the Neatherway girls along with 3 of her 4  unmarried daughters & taught them the profession of a Governess.They can be seen on the census  living at various times with Honnor Fry or her daughters.
 All of the Neatherway children benefitted from Honnor's will after her death in 1853.