Republican Guard
Original title: Guarda Republicana
A company of the Republican National Guard was stationed in Madeira from 1919. It withdrew to Lisbon in 1922.
Independent Company no. 1 of the Republican Guard (Guarda Republicana), today (1921) Mixed Company no. 1, was created by decree of 10 May 1919. On 3 December 1919, 2 sergeants, 3 corporals and 21 soldiers of this guard arrived in Funchal aboard the Quelimane; 11 of the men belonged to the cavalry and 15 to the infantry. The force has since been enlarged and at present numbers 3 sergeants, 8 corporals, 1 bugler corporal and 66 soldiers, under a captain commanding the company and 1 subaltern commanding the mixed section of Funchal. The force includes 16 Madeirans, discharged soldiers of the infantry and artillery.
The strength of the Company has not yet been firmly settled, as it depends on the number of posts that come to be established on the island. (1921)
The Republican Guard withdrew to Lisbon in 1922, on the April and May sailings of the steamer São Miguel. In its last period it had its barracks at the Quinta Vigia (‘lookout estate’), which belongs to the State and where, in former times, the Empress of Austria and Archduke Maximilian, later Emperor of Mexico, resided.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 02Place
Places mentioned · 03
Abroad
- Funchal
Where the Guard detachment arrived in December 1919.
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.
- Lisbon
Portugal. The city to which the Guard withdrew in 1922.
The Portuguese capital, seat of the Relação court and of the Misericórdia whose privileges and statutes were extended to Funchal. Henrique Franco de Sousa studied at its Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and Luiz José Baiardo moved there in 1821.
- Quinta Vigia
Funchal. The state-owned estate that served as the Guard's last barracks.
A state-owned estate in São Pedro parish, Funchal, noted for rare exotic trees, which served as a residence for Queen Adelaide, the Empress of Austria (1860–61) and the Prince of Oldenburg. It later became barracks of the Republican Guard, had a casino that issued tokens in 1901, and was hit by a shell in the 1916 bombardment.
People
People mentioned · 02- Empress Elisabeth of Austriad. 1898
Empress of Austria who once lived at Quinta Vigia, later the Guard's barracks.
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Austrian archduke, later Emperor of Mexico, who once lived at Quinta Vigia.