Ornelas e Vasconcelos (Aires de)

He was born in the parish (freguesia) of Camacha on 5 March 1866, the son of Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Agostinho de Ornelas de Vasconcelos (see that entry) and Dona Maria Joaquina Saldanha da Gama. On his father’s side he belongs to one of the oldest and most distinguished Madeiran families, and on his mother’s side he is a grandson of the Counts of Ponte. He took his preparatory studies at the Colégio de Campolide and, after attending the Polytechnic School (Escola Politécnica) and the Army School (Escola do Exército), was commissioned second lieutenant in 1889 in the General Staff.

He devoted himself from the outset to the study of military affairs, soon contributing actively to specialist reviews. In 1893 he founded the Revista do Exercito e da Armada, of which he was one of the most assiduous editors.

Aires de Ornelas left for East Africa in 1895, where he proved himself a most distinguished soldier and quickly won great renown throughout the country. He took part in the campaign against Gungunhana and in the preparation of the Marracuene and Inhambane columns. It was, however, in the battles of Coolela and Marracuene, where he truly displayed his courage, his competence and his unsurpassed composure, that he most firmly consolidated his existing reputation as one of the officers who had most distinguished themselves in our African wars. Mousinho de Albuquerque, the great hero of our African campaigns in the second half of the 19th century, would have no other chief of staff than Aires de Ornelas, stating in his report on the campaigns of 1896-1897 that ‘in his arm he was the most complete officer he had ever known, possessing all the qualities of a cavalry officer in the field and of a staff officer.

He devoted himself above all to the study of colonial affairs, in which his time in Africa, his administration of the district of Lourenço Marques and the various military and diplomatic missions he carried out gave him the greatest authority. In our country he was regarded as one of the public men with the broadest and deepest knowledge of our overseas questions, above all in their bearing on relations with the other colonial powers. His expertise in this field showed itself chiefly in the studies he published in various reviews, in his editorship of the Jornal das Colónias, in the chapters ‘Marraquene’ and ‘Coolela’ of the book Campanha das tropas portuguesas em Lourenço Marques e Inhambane, in the study entitled As raças e línguas indígenas de Moçambique, and in a number of lectures given at the Geographical Society (Sociedade de Geografia) and the Naval League (Liga Naval). Aires de Ornelas represented the Portuguese government at the Military Congress held in Madrid on the occasion of the Columbus centenary, and later served as a technical delegate at the celebrated Hague conference. He was also chosen, together with Admiral Hermenegildo Capelo and Commander Ernesto de Vasconcelos, to form the technical commission that went to discuss with the British the question of the Barotse boundaries, which had been submitted to the arbitration of the King of Italy. Aires de Ornelas took a very active part in this mission, especially in helping to prepare the historical memorandum justifying Portugal’s rights.

When Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) João Franco was charged in 1906 with forming a government – leaving throughout the country glorious traditions that still endure – he chose Captain Aires de Ornelas to hold the portfolio of the navy and overseas. It was as holder of this portfolio that in 1907 he accompanied the Crown Prince, Louis Philippe, on a journey to our overseas colonies in West and East Africa.

When the Republic was established, Councillor Aires de Ornelas resigned his army commission and left the country, living abroad for some time.

On returning home, he took an active part in organising and leading monarchist politics, and today he is the lieutenant of Manuel II in our country (1921). Caught up in the political events of the attempts to restore the monarchy, he was arrested and spent many long months imprisoned in the Penitentiary and in the Fort of São Julião da Barra (St Julian's Fort).

He contributed widely to many newspapers and reviews, and for some years was editor of the Diário Nacional. Besides the writings already mentioned, we know that he published: Mousinho de Albuquerque e a sua acção em Moçambique, A Expansão de Portugal, Politica Marítima Nacional, A Marinha Portuguesa, As doutrinas politicas de Charles Maurras, Um Anno de Guerra, 285 pp., Segundo Anno de Guerra, 305 pp., etc.

He was deputy for Madeira in the legislative session of 1918, and in January 1922 he was also elected deputy for one of the constituencies of mainland Portugal.

He died in Lisbon on 14 December 1930, and in 1934 his remains were transferred to the Angústias cemetery in Funchal.