Drumond de Meneses (Sérvulo)

He was born in Funchal on 23 December 1802, the son of João Nepomuceno Correia Drumond and Dona Maria Isidora de Meneses e Brito. He attended secondary school in the city, intending to enrol in the law course at the University of Coimbra (Universidade de Coimbra). For reasons unknown to us he did not pursue this path, and instead entered the office of his uncle, Inácio Correia Drumond, clerk of the corregedor's court (escrivão da correição; the corregedor was the royal district magistrate), as a trainee. In 1826 he secured appointment as a court clerk (escrivão), and later, after the proclamation of the Constitution, as a licensed advocate (advogado provisionista, practising by licence without a law degree). He was president of the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal and, years later, one of its councillors (vereadores). It was on his initiative that the city's public library was founded on 12 January 1838; it is still today the most important municipal institution. He also held the posts of member of the District Council (Conselho de Distrito), representative (procurador) to the District General Council (Junta Geral) and Secretary-General of the Civil Government, the last during the administration of Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) José Silvestre Ribeiro. He was furthermore interim civil governor from 17 July 1848 to 24 July 1849, while Councillor Silvestre Ribeiro was away in Lisbon as a deputy to the Cortes (Portuguese parliament).

He was a member of the Chartist party and later of the Cabralist party. He was one of the editors of the Flor do Oceano, published in 1828, and while still quite young he contributed to the Regedor, to A Ordem and to other Funchal periodicals. He published the Collecção de Documentos relativos ao Asylo de Mendicidade do Funchal, Funchal, 1848, 72 pp.; the Colecção de Documentos relativos á Crise da Fome, Funchal, 1848, 310 pp.; the Collecção de Documentos relativos á Construção da Ponte do Ribeiro Secco, Funchal, 1848, 110 pp.; and volumes 1 and 2 of the work entitled Uma Epocha Administrativa da Madeira e Porto Santo, Funchal, 1849 and 1850, 636 and 659 pp. The 3rd volume of the same work was published by António Jacinto de Freitas in 1852.

He was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his time and left several pieces on administrative and civil law, some unpublished, others printed separately. He was a knight of the Order of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Nossa Senhora da Conceição). Before 1820 he was a cadet in the Auxiliary Artillery (Artilharia Auxiliar) corps and, as a young man, he courted the Muses: some of his poems can be found in the Collecçao d'algumas obras poéticas offerecidas ao Ill.mo e Ex.mº Sr. Sebastião Xavier Botelho (Funchal, 1821). He died in Funchal on 13 January 1867.

In 1905, on the proposal of the late councillor (vereador) Francisco José Nogueira Guimarãis, the Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal) of Funchal resolved to give the name of Servulo Drumond de Meneses to the street between the former Travessa da Alegria (‘lane of joy’) and the Estrada do Conde de Carvalhal (‘Count of Carvalhal road’). Yet although the proposal was approved unanimously, someone managed to prevent it from being entered in the minutes book, and the said thoroughfare was later given the name Rua Nova da Alegria (‘new street of joy’)!