Atouguia (Viscount of)

António Aluísio Jervis de Atouguia, 1st Viscount of Atouguia, belonged to a noble Madeiran family. He was born on 7 July 1797 in the locality (sítio) of São Francisco das Furnas (St Francis of Assisi), on the Estrada de Santo António, in the parish (freguesia) of São Pedro in this city, in the house of the entailed estate (morgadio) that his parents owned there. He was the son of Manuel Atouguia Jervis and Dona Antónia Joana Carvalhal Esmeraldo. He was baptised on the 13th of the same month and year in the chapel of Our Lady of Pity (Nossa Senhora da Piedade), at Cruz do Carvalho (‘oak cross’) in the parish of São Pedro, by the distinguished Madeiran Dean João Francisco Lopes Rocha, whom we discuss elsewhere in this Elucidário.

Near London there was a college of European reputation, known by the name of ‘Old Hall Green’, where many sons of the most illustrious families of this island were educated at that time and for a good many years afterwards. Having learnt to read and write, Jervis de Atouguia left for England at the age of 14 to enter this renowned college, where some of his relatives and fellow islanders had also been pupils. After completing what we would today call his secondary studies there, he returned to his homeland and set out for Coimbra, where he enrolled in the faculty of mathematics. Of his diligence as a student we know only that he completed his degree in that faculty on 29 July 1822, having won a prize in the first year of the course.

In the October immediately following he was appointed substitute professor (lente substituto) at the Naval Academy (Academia de Marinha), later reformed under the name of Naval School (Escola Naval), and he was promoted to full professor by decree of 1 February 1834.

The liberal ideas he professed made him unsafe in Portugal. Fearing the persecution suffered by many of his fellow countrymen and friends, he resolved to seek the warm hospitality of the country he knew so well, where he had spent some years of his youth. He emigrated to England in June 1828, and in August of the same year sailed for this island with other Portuguese, to join the governor and captain-general José Lúcio Travassos Valdez, later Count of Bonfim, and to help him in the resistance he was preparing against the attack of the absolutist forces. It is well known that this resistance never took place, and that the troops commanded by General Lemos bombarded the town (vila) of Machico, took it without difficulty and set off for Funchal. Captain José Maria Monteiro, who had come aboard Miguel I’s fleet, was then installed in the government of the island.

The captain-general (capitão-general, military governor of Madeira) Travassos Valdez, accompanied by Jervis de Atouguia, by the Portuguese who had arrived from England and by other Madeirans, took refuge aboard the British warship Alligator, which was then lying at anchor in our harbour. A few days later they all left for England.

He remained there until the end of 1831, when he left for Terceira to join the movement that had begun on that island to free Portugal from the clutches of absolutism. Shortly after his arrival, in March 1832, an expedition was organised against Madeira to free it from the Miguelite (supporter of the absolutist King Miguel) yoke. This expedition, commanded by Luiz Mousinho de Albuquerque and in which Jervis de Athouguia took part, proved fruitless: the liberal forces did not even attempt an attack on this archipelago, in view of the superiority of the enemy troops defending it. Only Mousinho de Albuquerque and the officers of his party stayed for some weeks on Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), before returning to the island of Terceira.

In June 1832 Jervis de Atouguia was appointed secretary-general of the province of the Azores, a post he did not hold for long. His ardent wish to join those fighting for liberty on the lines of Porto led him to resign that honourable office and present himself to Pedro IV, offering his services. He was at once given a place on the imperial general staff as a captain, was later transferred to the Royal Corps of Engineers, and was then appointed military and civil secretary of Porto, an office he filled with great distinction.

As aide-de-camp to General Valdez and later to General Saldanha, António Aluísio Jervis de Atouguia took part in almost every engagement fought until the end of the civil war. He distinguished himself by his daring and bravery, notably at the battle of Almoster, for which he was decorated with three grades of the Order of the Tower and Sword.

Once constitutional government had been established, he threw himself into politics. While still holding his chair at the Royal Naval Academy (Academia Real de Marinha), he was elected deputy for Madeira in 1834, and on 25 July 1835 he was called to the councils of the Crown, running the navy ministry until 18 July of that year.

In 1836 he was appointed civil governor of Porto, and in the same year he was elected deputy both for that city and for Madeira. He also represented his native island in the Cortes (Portuguese parliament) in 1837, 1842 and 1851.

Jervis de Athouguia took part in the so-called Marshals’ Revolt. When it failed, he went into exile in England, but on returning to Portugal in 1838 he gave his support to the new constitution.

In 1841 he was chosen as president of the Chamber of Deputies, and the following year he joined the cabinet headed by the Duke of Palmela, in charge of the navy ministry.

Between 1851 and 1856 he was several times a minister of state, holding the portfolios of the navy and of foreign affairs.

On 5 January 1853 he was raised to the peerage, and on 15 March of the following year he was granted the title of Viscount of Atouguia.

Jervis de Atouguia served as director of the Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica), was a councillor of the Court of Auditors (Tribunal de Contas) and reached the rank of brevet brigadier of engineers. He died in Lisbon on 17 May 1861.