Arthur Porter's Mysterious Disappearance on Inishbofin on the 8th of July 1933
Disappearance
Tuesday 30th, August 2022
Arthur Kingsley Porter, a Harvard teacher disappeared off the northwest coast of Donegal on the 8th of July 1933 on the island of Island Inis Bó Finne or Inishbofin, with no body ever recovered.
The first inquest into a death without a body was held and accepted Mr porter's wife's opinion that Mr Porter had slipped ad fell into the ocean and washed out to sea.
The mysterious death of Mr Porter is being re-examined by investigative journalist and filmmaker Kevin Magee for TG4 in a new hour long documentary "Ar Iarraidh - Scéal Arthur Kingsley Porter".
A leading expert in his field, Mr Porter taught art history at Harvard University in the US. Mr Porter and his wife Lucy bought Glenveagh Castle in Co Donegal in 1929 for £5,000, which today is a key part of the Glenveagh National Park.
Mr Porter was 50 years old when he vanished. But many of the islanders and a surviving relative of Porter believe that he may have staged his death to create a new life for himself abroad.
Porter’s grand-nephew Scott Arneill said, "What I believe happened, to put it simply as possible, is that he faked his own death,".
Magee uncovers new information about Porter's disappearance in the documentary.
Magee said about the documentary, "As part of my investigation, I traveled to Boston and found some papers and other materials that Porter's wife deposited in an archive at Harvard University where he'd taught. Among the papers were some historic photographs of the island taken days after Kingsley's disappearance".
"The documents themselves were very revealing. One showed that a fishing boat that was not mentioned at the inquest was in the bay of the island the night before Kingsley disappeared. He actually got his feet wet helping prepare the vessel for its departure, so he clearly had the chance to quietly slip off the leave if that was his intention."
The first inquest into a death without a body was held and accepted Mr porter's wife's opinion that Mr Porter had slipped ad fell into the ocean and washed out to sea.
The mysterious death of Mr Porter is being re-examined by investigative journalist and filmmaker Kevin Magee for TG4 in a new hour long documentary "Ar Iarraidh - Scéal Arthur Kingsley Porter".
A leading expert in his field, Mr Porter taught art history at Harvard University in the US. Mr Porter and his wife Lucy bought Glenveagh Castle in Co Donegal in 1929 for £5,000, which today is a key part of the Glenveagh National Park.
Mr Porter was 50 years old when he vanished. But many of the islanders and a surviving relative of Porter believe that he may have staged his death to create a new life for himself abroad.
Porter’s grand-nephew Scott Arneill said, "What I believe happened, to put it simply as possible, is that he faked his own death,".
Magee uncovers new information about Porter's disappearance in the documentary.
Magee said about the documentary, "As part of my investigation, I traveled to Boston and found some papers and other materials that Porter's wife deposited in an archive at Harvard University where he'd taught. Among the papers were some historic photographs of the island taken days after Kingsley's disappearance".
"The documents themselves were very revealing. One showed that a fishing boat that was not mentioned at the inquest was in the bay of the island the night before Kingsley disappeared. He actually got his feet wet helping prepare the vessel for its departure, so he clearly had the chance to quietly slip off the leave if that was his intention."
