He was born in
Reading, England, in 1874, the son of Robert John Portsmouth, a blacksmith from
Southampton. he was raised and educated here. In 1891 he was living with his parents at 28 Orts Road in Reading, a very ordinary "two up, two down" terraced house. Sometime around 1893 he moved to
London (probably to study) and was living at 11 Lincoln Street in
Chelsea before moving to 21 Guildford Street in
Clapham in 1902. Around August 1903, shortly after marrying, he got a job teaching sculpture at
Edinburgh College of Art and moved to 65 Warrender Park Road in the
Marchmont district. He lived briefly at 10 Viewforth Square, before returning to Marchmont in 1905 to 40 Warrender Park Terrace. During this period he also leased a studio at Westhall Gardens in the south of the city. In 1910 he was living at 39
George Square, Edinburgh. As was common to all reasonably skilled sculptors the
First World War was a blessing in disguise as the post-war legislation legally obliged every parish council across the length and breadth of Britain to erect a war memorial to their dead. He received three major commissions from this. As these are all remote from his home he presumably had a friend or relative who promoted him for these commissions. In 1929 he retired as Professor of Sculpture at
Edinburgh College of Art and moved to England where he lived at "Youngloves" in
Rushden, Hertfordshire. He died at Lister Hospital in
Hitchin on 29 October 1953. ==Family==