Gates and Dates

One thing you do on dog walks is notice things, from the people on the bus (which passes at 8.10am) to visitors staying with family, how the sun is rising a little bit earlier every morning this time of year.

One thing that has always intrigued me is the initials and dates on house gates.  Once you start noticing these things then you see dates everywhere....and of course the JF initials on all the benches....who is JF......but more of that later.

So as a result of all this noticing, I've been thinking about the dates and what was going on for Portugal when our neighbours installed their gates.

 1916

The oldest gates I've found in our village.  The house is now abandoned, but it's a lovely place, with some great stone work.   This gate was installed during the First World War.  In 1916 Germany declared war on Portugal.   Portugal had honoured its old alliance with Great Britain by seizing German ships anchored in Lisbon’s harbour following a request to commandeer all foreign ships in their ports.  In March António José de Almeida became the President - born in Penacova in the district of Coimbra (our nearest major town) and trained in medicine in the University of Coimbra.

Almeida as a student

In May, at the Battle of Namaca, Portuguese forces suffer heavy losses when engaged by German forces in northern Mozambique.  Portugal’s participation in the First World War, never consensual, and the year was marked by a number of violent episodes against the war. Some of these were rural and urban mutinies,  some were strikes, and some were attempts at coups d’état. In December 1916 a failed coup was lead by Antonio Machado Santos. 

1931

It was a troubled year, in 1929 the New York stock market crashed, causing repercussions across the world. It was a time of social and political upheaval both in the Portuguese mainland, the colonies and the islands of Portugal. Between February and May 1931, there were uprisings in the military garrisons of Madeira and the Azores that spread to Guinea.  In Madeira, discontent provoked by unemployment had been raging due to the economic and financial crisis and traditional exports of dairy and embroidery and the tourism industry crashed, leading to the bankruptcy of the main Madeiran banking houses.  

In other news..... In Fatima on May 13, 1931, in the presence 300,000 people, the Bishops of Portugal consecrated Portugal to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

There were big changes coming to Portugal and The Estado Novo (New State) or the Second Republic, was installed in Portugal in 1933.  Essentially this was the dictatorship doctrine of António de Oliveira Salazar.

Salazar

I couldn't find any gates from the late 1930s and 1940s but Portugal goes through the following:

• supporting Franco in the Spanish Civil War,
• the banning of all secret societies by Salazar,
• numerous attempts on Salazar's life,
• the outbreak of the war with Portugal claiming a neutral stance with Spain,
• the start of Portugal's Secret Police, and
• Portugal becomes one of the founding members of NATO.

1958

Américo de Deus Rodrigues Tomás becomes President until the Revolution in 1974. Evidence later surfaced that the public voted for Tomás' opponent and the election was rigged to support by Tomás' friends in the regime of the New State.  As a result, Salazar, still in power as Prime Minister, abolishes direct election of presidents in favour of election by the National Assembly—which was firmly controlled by the regime.

Tomás

Unlike other European nations during the 1950s and 1960s, the Portuguese regime did not withdraw from its African colonies.  During this period Portugal faced increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions imposed by the international community.

1960

The economy of Portugal and its colonies was growing well above the European average.  During the 60s Portugal saw a decrease in population as people emigrated to northern Europe.  Only a year later The Angolan War of Independence began as an uprising against forced cotton cultivation, and the war became a multi-faction struggle for the control of Portugal's overseas province of Angola.

Marcello das Neves Alves Caetano was appointed as Prime Minister in the late 60s although the real power remains in the hands of President Admiral Américo Tómas.

1973

Independence of Guinea-Bissau (Portuguese Guinea) is declared and  Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1973, with Fernando Tordo and the song "Tourada" a triumph of a mullet, some cow bells and a musical tale of the bull fight - have a look at the pale blue suit of Fernando here. 

1973 saw the world oil crisis but Portugal still had large reserves of untapped oil in its overseas territories of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe, promising untold wealth to come!

Marcello  Caetano had taken over the leadership after Salazar suffered a stroke.  No one informed Salazar that he had been removed as leader of the regime!  Caetano's power was largely held in check by Tomás and although Caetano had been one of the architects of the Estado Novo, he took some steps to 'blunt the harsher edges' of the regime.

Marcello  Caetano

In 1973various hard-liners in the regime used their closeness to Tomás to pressure Caetano into abandoning his reform experiment. Caetano had little choice but to accept this...so Portugal started to rebel. 

On 25 April 1974 the military overthrew the regime in the revolution. There was almost no resistance

Back to those benches....

So who is JF?  I've wondered for many years who this important person could be.  Did they pay for all the benches to be installed, was he the president when the village was at it's peak?  Was he a wealthy 1950s landowner.....?  I finally took a photo and asked a local.....unfortunately there is no story here.   It simply means Junta de Freguesia the very unexciting Parish Council!

any mistakes in history are all my own...despite frantic googling.....