Henrique da Fonseca de Sousa Prego

Henrique da Fonseca Souza Prego was born in Lisbon, civil parish of São Tomé. He was baptized on 19 April 1768; his godfather was Dr. Silvestre de Sousa Villas Boas, a member of the Souza Prego dynasty of Sintra, a small local aristocratic family. On 12 February 1781 he was recognized as a knight in the Royal House.[1]

Back in Portugal he was appointed Governor and Captain-General of the Azores, having left for Angra do Heroísmo, aboard the frigate Princesa Real, on 20 June 1828, with the aim of replacing the much contested Captain-General Manuel Vieira de Albuquerque Touvar.[5]

Two days after his departure for Lisbon, on 22 June, a liberal uprising took place in Angra do Heroísmo which, with the support of the 5th Battalion, in order to reestablish the Portuguese Constitutional Charter of 1826, and expelled the former ruler, Touvar. But, when Souza Prego arrived in the region he was prevented from disembarking, and his luggage was seized and sold in a public square.[5] Touver was already in exile in Ponta Delgada (where Souza Prego initially went) before leaving for Lisbon. Returning to Lisbon, Sousa Prego discovered that D. Miguel I had staged a coup and taken power as absolute monarch. On 5 August 1828 he was reappointed Captain-General of the Azores and was responsible for leading a squadron that would regain power in the archipelago.[5] Following an easy absolutist victory in Madeira, and at the end of October, he had already arrived in the Azores. On 4 November he left for Terceira, with the aim of negotiating. His negotiating stance was contrary to D. Miguel's authoritarian and aggressive stance. In this regard, Charles John Napier, then 1st Viscount of Cabo de São Vicente, recorded that Sousa Prego, "during his government, never obeyed the bloodthirsty instructions transmitted to him by the government [of D. Miguel]".[5]

From Ponta Delgada, he began to manage the scattered absolutist islands under his control. He also established a blockade on the island of Terceira, the only one still in the hands of the liberals. The blockade, however, was unsuccessful. The liberals gradually managed to reinforce their presence on the island, bringing in emigrants from England and France and maintaining communication with the liberal Cortes in Brazil.[5] As a result of the ineffectiveness of the blockade, the island's defense was consolidated, particularly after the arrival, on 22 June 1829, of António José de Sousa Manuel de Menezes Severim de Noronha (the Count of Vila Flor), accompanied by a large group of emigres. Noronha had been invested as Governor and Captain-General by the liberal Government-in-Exile (by royal letter dated 5 April 1829) by Queen D. Maria II with the assistance of the Marquis of Palmela, then minister of Portugal in London.[5] In this way, the Captaincy-General of the Azores had two rival titular governors: a liberal government in Angra (defending Terceira) and an absolutist government headquartered in Ponta Delgada (that controlled the other islands). But, faced with the deteriorating military situation in the Azores from various insurrections, D. Miguel I decided in July 1829 to order an attack on the island of Terceira. To this end, he sent the majority of his armada, commanded by José Joaquim da Rosa Coelho and battlion under the direction of Colonel José António de Azevedo Lemos, to the Azores to be joined by the remainder of his forces in Ponta Delgada, under the command of Souza Prego, to attack Angra.[5]

Batalha da Praia da Vitória (11 August 1829)

The defeat of Miguelist forces at the Battle of Praia on 11 August 1829, resulted in the defeat the Miguelist party in the Azores. Souza Prego and Rosa Coelho were accused of a lack of zeal and firmness in preparing the landing and executing the operation.[5] Shortly after, Miguelist forces were obliged to disperse their forces between the other islands, with a considerable part of the squadron returning to Lisbon. Little by little, the Absolutists began to lose control over the remaining islands to liberal forces. Finally, at the Battle of Ladeira da Velha on the island of São Miguel, Sousa Prego's forces were defeated. Practically without resistance, the island was conquered in August of that same year. Souza Prego had to take refuge in the house of the English Consul and flee to Lisbon.[5] On 19 September 1831 he obtained royal authorization to justify the defeats suffered and his conduct before a Council of War. The council was formed with great difficulty, never having deliberated on the case. Meanwhile, the admiral saw his pay reduced by half and was publicly blamed for the defeat suffered and the serious consequences of the Miguelist cause.[5] Once the liberal victory was complete, Sousa Prego was dismissed by the decree of 5 September 1833. However, under the terms of the letter date 24 August 1840, he was subsequently reinstated as a Vice-Admiral, but separated from the permanent staff of the Navy.[5]

• Captaincy-General of the Azores