Félix Pereira de Magalhães (1794-1878)

Fernando de Sousa, Ricardo Rocha, Isilda Monteiro, Paulo Amorim

Félix Pereira de Magalhães, born in Chaves (1794), graduated in Law at the University of Coimbra (1822), soon adhered to the liberal ideology established in the Porto Revolution of August 24, 1820. With the arrival of D. Miguel I to the throne , he was forced into exile in France, returning to Portugal as part of the Liberation Army commanded by D. Pedro. After the definitive triumph of Liberalism, he was secretary of the Royal Oporto Wine Company and the Azores Government, senator (1838-1842), member of the Parliament (1842-1845), peer of the Kingdom (1845-1870) and minister (1849-1851) . A trusted man of Costa Cabral, in parallel to his political positions, he practiced law and was called to occupy important public positions, at the Administrative Commission of the Misericórdia de Lisboa and São José Hospital  (1841-1846), at the Companhia dos Canais da Azambuja (1844-1859), at Caixa Económica de Lisboa (1845-1846) and at Banco de Portugal (1846-1849), of which he was the first president. Taking into account this unusual life path, this work presents the biography of Félix Pereira de Magalhães in its various dimensions, seeking to describe his career, explain his thinking, understand his logic and argumentation, providing a rigorous portrait of one of the most active participants in nineteenth-century Portuguese Liberalism.

Note: Due to publishing rights, only the first pages of the work are available. The book is available at CEPESE's Library.