The township of Portarlington was formally surveyed around 1850 and was at that time named Drayton. It was renamed Portarlington in 1851, reportedly in honour of the English peer, Sir Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington. However, it is also suggested, and seems more likely, that owing to the number of early Irish settlers in the area, the town was named after the town in Ireland of the same name (founded by Sir Henry Bennet in 1666). The newly surveyed township was neatly laid out, with broad streets, and planted with English elms and pines.