Augusto de Vasconcelos

Augusto César de Almeida de Vasconcelos Correia, GCSE (Lisbon, Santos o Velho, September 24, 1867 – Lisbon, Santa Catarina, September 27, 1951), better known as Augusto de Vasconcelos (Portuguese pronunciation: [awˈɡuʃtu dɨ vaʃkõˈsɛluʃ]) was a Portuguese surgeon, politician and diplomat.

He graduated at the Lisbon Medic-Cirurgical School, in 1891, where he also taught, later becoming a Professor of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon.

A Republican since his youth, he was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the first Constitutional Government of the Portuguese First Republic, whose Prime Minister was João Pinheiro Chagas, from October 12, 1911 to November 12, 1911. He succeeded Chagas as Prime Minister of another Portuguese Republican Party government, which was in power from November 11, 1911 to June 4, 1912. In that government, too, he held the post of Foreign Minister as well as that of Prime Minister. He was Foreign Minister again from June 16, 1912 to January 9, 1913.

Later he served as Plenipotentiary Minister in Madrid (1913–1914) and London (1914–1919), during World War I, which Portugal entered in 1916 on the Allies' side. Subsequently, he led the Portuguese delegation at the Peace Conference, in Paris, in 1919.

After that he concentrated on diplomacy, in the service of the League of Nations as a Delegate of Portugal. He helped to solve international conflicts, like the Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay in 1935. From 1935 to 1937 he occupied the office of President of the League of Nations.

He received the Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint James of the Sword, the Order of Isabel the Catholic, the Order of the Crown of Belgium and both the Orders of Merit of Chile and Peru and was Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur of France, etc.

He was a son of Júlio César de Vasconcelos Correia (Lisbon, Santos-o-Velho or Santa Catarina, December 21, 1837 – Lisbon, Santos-o-Velho, December 31, 1910), an Engineer and a Shipbuilder, and wife (m. Lisbon, Encarnação) Constança Libânia Auta de Almeida (Lisbon, Santos o Velho, c. 1840 – Lisbon, Santos-o-Velho, March 13, 1926). His father was a natural son of António César de Vasconcelos Correia, 1st Viscount and 1st Count of Torres Novas and 93rd Governor-General of India, thus being a second cousin once removed of Fernando Peyroteo and three times removed of José Couceiro.

He married in Lisbon, Santa Catarina, Hermínia Laura de Albuquerque Henriques Moreira (Castelo Branco, Sé, September 2, 1869 – Lisbon, Santa Catarina, September 28, 1947), widow of Augusto Pereira Leite and daughter of José Joaquim Henriques Moreira (Lisbon, Alcântara, April 29, 1820 – January 6, 1895), Division General, Commander of the Municipal Guard, Commander of the Order of Aviz and Knight of the Order of the Tower and Sword, etc., and wife (m. November 7, 1868) Maria Hermínia de Albuquerque de Mesquita e Paiva (October 15, 1844 – June 7, 1910), daughter of the 2nd Viscount (formerly Barons) of Oleiros, and had:

• Júlio Moreira de Vasconcelos (b. July 15, 1906), a medical doctor, unmarried and without issue
• Maria Teresa Moreira de Vasconcelos, unmarried and without issue
• José Moreira de Vasconcelos (b. May 28, 1910), an engineer, married to Maria Gabriela de Sampaio e Melo, and had issue:
  • Maria de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, unmarried and without issue
  • José Maria de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, unmarried and without issue
  • Maria Isabel de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, unmarried and without issue
  • Augusto António de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, married to Maria Helena do Patrocínio Nogueira
  • Maria José de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, married to José Afonso de Almada Negreiros (b. 1934), son of José Sobral de Almada Negreiros and wife Sarah Afonso
  • Maria Micaela de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, married to politician Raúl Miguel de Oliveira Rosado Fernandes
  • Maria Teresa de Sampaio e Melo de Vasconcelos, married to José Maria da Fonseca Caldeira Cabral (b. Lisbon, 1942)
• Maria Isabel Moreira de Vasconcelos (b. November 3, 1911), married to Pedro de Sárrea Mascarenhas Gaivão (b. October 20, 1907), without issue