Ribeira Brava (Viscount of)

Francisco Correia Heredia, who after the abolition of titles of nobility took the name Francisco Correia Heredia Ribeira Brava, was born on 2 April 1852 in the parish (freguesia) from which he took his title. He was the son of Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) António Correia Heredia (see that entry) and Dona Ana de Bettencourt Heredia, and he descended from the oldest and noblest Madeiran families (see Heredia). He was granted the title of viscount by decree of 4 May 1871.

He studied at the lyceum (state secondary school) of this city and attended the former Higher Course of Letters (Curso Superior de Letras).

He was active in politics and a prominent figure in the former Progressive Party. He was elected deputy several times and represented Madeira in the legislative session of 1897–1899; he was also civil governor of the districts of Bragança, Beja and Lisbon. He played a leading part in the progressive dissidence headed by Councillor Alpoim, taking part in various revolutionary movements that hastened the fall of the monarchy.

Once the republic had been established, he followed the party faction of Dr Afonso Costa, of whom he was a great admirer and friend, and came to hold a prominent place in local politics in Madeira, representing this archipelago in the Cortes (Portuguese parliament) in the legislatures of 1911–1915 and 1915–1917.

For some years he was president of the Madeira Agricultural Board (Junta Agrícola da Madeira), and he launched several noteworthy undertakings, although their practical results were slight. As we have pointed out elsewhere (volume II, page 197), this administrative body did not live up to the great hopes placed in its work as the powerful force for the prosperity of this archipelago that it ought to have been.

He also sat on the District General Council (Junta Geral do Distrito), the Autonomous Board for the Funchal Harbour Works (Junta Autónoma das Obras do Porto do Funchal) and the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia). Around 1893 he was in the Argentine Republic, managing the properties of the Armstrong firm (Casa Armstrong), and he often had occasion to assist the Viscount of Faria in receiving the distinguished persons who visited that country. He also lived for some years in Paris, where he mixed with many men of letters and moved in the best society of that capital, and as a result he had a perfect command of the French language.

The Viscount of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’) was killed in Lisbon on 16 October 1918, while he was being taken, with other political prisoners, from the civil government building (Governo Civil) to a fortress where he was to be held. It is said that the political prisoners attacked the escort guarding them, and that the escort replied with a volley at point-blank range, killing seven of the prisoners. See Ribeira Brava (parish).