Freire (Ascenso de Sequeira)
Governor and captain-general of Madeira from 1803 to 1807, during whose rule the channelling and walling of Funchal's three streams was carried out.
He was appointed governor and captain-general of Madeira on 15 October 1803. He arrived in Funchal on 5 December following and took office on the 8th of the same month and year, while his predecessor, Dom José Manuel da Câmara, was still in the city.
He was accompanied by the high court judge (desembargador) Dr Joaquim António de Araújo, who had been charged with conducting an official inquiry into the serious disagreements that had arisen between the governor and captain-general Dom José Manuel da Câmara and the bishop Dom Luís Rodrigues de Vilares (see those entries).
During his term of office, because of the European wars, British warships frequently entered our harbour, bringing in various vessels, mainly Spanish, which they had captured on the high seas.
In 1804 and 1805 the important improvement of channelling and walling the three streams that run through the city was carried out, under the direction of the distinguished engineer Brigadier Reinaldo Oudinot (see that entry).
Ascenso de Sequeira Freire left Madeira after the arrival of his successor, Pedro Fagundes Bacelar de Antas e Meneses, who took up the post at the end of July 1807.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
Ascenso de Sequeira Freire was appointed governor and captain-general of Madeira.
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Ascenso de Sequeira Freire took office as governor of Madeira in Funchal.
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Brigadier Reinaldo Oudinot arrived in Funchal in February 1804 and channelled and walled the town's three streams; floods in December 1804 proved the walls, and in 1806 houses by the João Gomes and Santa Luzia streams were demolished for the works.
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Pedro Fagundes Bacelar de Antas e Meneses took office as governor of Madeira, succeeding Ascenso de Sequeira Freire.
Place
Places mentioned · 01
- Funchal
Where Freire arrived and took office in December 1803.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
People
People mentioned · 06-
Governor and captain-general of Madeira (1803–07), the subject of this entry.
- D. Luís Rodrigues de Vilaresd. 1810
Bishop of Funchal involved in serious disputes with governor José Manuel da Câmara.
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High-court judge who accompanied Freire to investigate the dispute between the governor and the bishop.
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Predecessor as governor and captain-general whose quarrels with the bishop led to an official inquiry.
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Successor as governor and captain-general, taking office in late July 1807.
- Reinaldo Oudinotd. 1807
Engineer and brigadier who directed the walling of Funchal's three streams in 1804–05.