Military Organisation

Under the military organisation of 31 October 1844, the Madeira archipelago was an autonomous Command governed by a colonel.

When the constitution was proclaimed in 1834, Madeira received a prefect (prefeito) and military governor: the illustrious Luís da Silva Mousinho de Albuquerque. He took up the post on 6 August and left it on 30 September 1835, and from then until 8 November of the same year he served solely as military governor.

In 1836 the 9th Military Division (Divisão Militar, a territorial army command) was created on the island of Madeira. Its commander was Brigadier, later Marshal, Antonio de Padua da Costa, formerly military governor, who took up the post on 30 January 1837 and held it until 12 September 1838. He returned to command the 9th Division on 23 September 1847, remaining in the post until the Division was abolished by decree of 20 December 1849. In the interval between Marshal Padua’s two terms, the Division was commanded on an interim basis by mere colonels.

After this decree the Madeira archipelago became a simple Military Command (Comando Militar). In February 1861, however, the Division was restored and lasted until 1868. Its commanders were first Brigadier José Julio do Amaral and then Colonel Jacinto Augusto Camacho, the latter on an interim basis.

Before the military organisation of 31 October 1884, to which we referred above, the archipelago formed a subordinate Subdivision of the 1st Division, whose headquarters were in Lisbon. See Madeira (military administration), vol. II, p. 312.