Luís da Silva Mouzinho de Albuquerque (June 16, 1792 in Lisbon – December 27, 1846 in Torres Vedras; ) was a Portuguese military officer, engineer, poet, scientist and politician, who distinguished himself during the Liberal Wars and in the conflicts that marked Portugal's history in the first half of the 19th century. He served as the Minister of the Kingdom (a post similar to today's Minister of Internal Affairs) during the liberal regency of Pedro of Braganza (formerly Pedro I of Brazil and IV of Portugal). This was the most prominent post inside the government at that time, which made him the Prime Minister of Portugal in all but name. He was also several times minister and deputy minister during the Constitutional Monarchical period. Among other offices, he served as Chief of the National Mint, captain-general and governor of Madeira, and inspector-general of public works. He was the grandfather of Joaquim Augusto Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a military officer and colonial administrator.
Biography
Luís da Silva Mouzinho de Albuquerque was born in Lisbon on June 16, 1792, son of João Pedro Mouzinho de Albuquerque (1736–1802) and Dona Luísa da Silva Gutiérrez de Ataíde (1763–18??), both from noble families. His father was a Fidalgo-knight of the Royal House and possessed two estates in Chelas. His mother was the daughter of Luís da Silva de Ataíde, a senior-guard of the Leiria pine forest and Lord of Casa do Terreiro.
Formative years and marriage
Until he was seven years old, Mouzinho de Albuquerque was taught by a French tutor. He showed an extraordinary precocious talent, being very studious and fond of poetry, design and the physical sciences. While still a child, Mouzinho composed several poems and wrote a verse translation of Jean Racine's tragedy Andromaque. His interest in natural science was the inspiration for his entomological, mineralogical and chemical collections later in life.
His father intended him to follow an ecclesiastical career and, after his family moved to Leiria, Mouzinho started his theological studies, attending Latin classes organised by Bishop Manuel de Aguiar. He also entered the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem. However, he soon recognized that he did not have the necessary vocation for the sacerdotal life and, after his father's death in 1802, he left the institute where his parents had enrolled him.
Mouzinho opted for a military career, entering the Portuguese Navy. He found obstacles to his career and soon transferred to the Portuguese Army, and became a cadet in the Royal Brigade. At the same time, he started attending the Royal Naval Academy where he studied mathematics, and was awarded a prize every year. He worked at the Royal Observatory of Lisbon, as a portionist between 1813 and 1814.
He fell in love with his cousin, Ana Mascarenhas de Ataíde, who was the daughter of his mother's sister and José Diogo Mascarenhas Neto, head postmaster and alderman of the Lisbon City Senate. Realising that he did not have the necessary means to make a suitable marriage for her, he decided to abandon his studies and dedicated himself to agriculture, with assistance from relatives, the Tudela Castilho family, who lived in Fundão.
In 1814, he established himself in Santarém, then again in Fundão. He returning to Lisbon to marry his cousin, returning to Fundão where the couple lived until 1820, occupying themselves with agriculture.
By this time he had written many poems, a tragedy, and his best literary work: Geórgicas Portuguesas. He also collaborated with the Jornal de Coimbra (Journal of Coimbra) and with the Anais das Ciências e das Letras (Annals of the Sciences and Letters), a Portuguese newspaper founded and edited by his father-in-law, which was published in Paris.
Studies in Paris and direction of the National Mint
In 1820, his father-in-law asked Mouzinho to come to him in Paris, where he was exiled. Mouzinho immediately occupied himself with editing the Annals of the Sciences and Letters. Between 1821 and 1823, he published many articles under his name, mainly about Portuguese agriculture and industrial affairs.
At that time, he also published a work about educational policy with the title Ideas About the Establishment of the Public Instruction, where he discussed the creation of a network of parochial primary schools for both sexes and a network of municipal secondary schools, a plan that would only come to fruition a century later.