António de Almeida Portugal, 5th Marquess of Lavradio

António de Almeida Portugal Soares Alarcão Melo Castro Ataíde Eça Mascarenhas Silva e Lencastre, 8th Count of Avintes, 5th Marquess of Lavradio (11 February 1794 – 15 September 1874) was a military officer, ambassador, politician, journalist and writer.

Biography

António de Almeida Portugal was born in Santa Engrácia, Lisbon, the son of António Máximo de Almeida Portugal and his wife Ana Teles.

While visiting Brazil with the royal family in 1807, he married there on February 13, 1814, D. Maria Rosa de Meneses da Silveira e Castro, his cousin, daughter of the 1st Marquises of Valada: D. Francisco de Menezes da Silveira and Castro and D. Ana Teresa de Almeida, daughter of the 2nd marquises of Lavradio. Steward of Princess D. Maria Benedita de Bragança, when he returned to the kingdom, he was appointed aide-de-camp to Infante D. Miguel de Bragança, with the honors of Captain.

In the Courts convened by the Infante, he was elected Prosecutor for Torres Vedras, and gave a speech, printed in a separate leaflet. In 1828 he was appointed Ambassador in Rome, a role he held until the Concession of Evoramonte, in 1834.

A supporter of Miguelism, King D. Miguel granted him Parental Honors and confirmed him the title of Marquis of Lavradio, which already belonged to him upon the death of his older brother, Luís de Almeida.

He wrote articles on various subjects in the political newspaper A Nação, particularly against Masonic ideas, and collaborated in religious newspapers, such as Missão Portugueza, etc.

António de Almeida Portugal died in Dois Portos, Torres Vedras.

Works

• Discurso Repetido pelo M. do Lavradio, D. Antonio, Procurador Eleito pelos Povos de Torres Vedras, na Primeira Conferencia que o Braço do Povo Celebrou em S. Francisco da Cidade (1828)
• "Reflexões sobre a Cholera­morbus nos Animais Brutos," Jornal da Sociedade das Sciencias Medicas de Lisboa, tomo XII (1840), pp. 206–72.
• Historia Abreviada das Sociedades Secretas (1854; extract translation of Barruel's History of Jacobinism)
• Algumas Observações sobre a Inquisição, sobre os Cruzados, e Outros Objectos Análogos (1856; reply to Alexandre Herculano's Da Origem e Estabelecimento da Inquisição em Portugal)