Rafael de Sobremonte

Rafael de Sobremonte

Rafael de Sobremonte y Núñez Castillo , Margrave ( marqués ) de Sobremonte (born November 27, 1745 in Seville , Region of Andalusia , Spain ; † January 1827 in Cádiz , Spain) was a Spanish officer and colonial administrator who served as viceroy of the Río de la Plata officiated.

Sobremonte came from a noble family. His father Raimundo de Sobremonte was second holder of the title of margrave and oidor at the Real Audiencia of Seville.

At the age of 14, Rafael de Sobremonte began his service in the Spanish Army in the regiment of the Royal Guard. He served in Cartagena , Ceuta, and Puerto Rico .

In 1782 he worked with the rank of lieutenant colonel as secretary to the viceroy Juan José de Vértiz y Salcedo in Buenos Aires . There he married Juana María de Larrazábal, with whom he would have twelve children. The following year he moved to Córdoba (Argentina) as provincial governor. He held this office until 1797. From 1797 to 1804 he was troop inspector of the Spanish colonial army on the Río de la Plata and president of the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires (1804).

In 1804 he succeeded the late Joaquín del Pino as viceroy on the Río de la Plata.

Sobremonte saw the threat of a British invasion and asked Spain to reinforce his troops, but to no avail. He had only 2,500 soldiers available to defend the colony, not enough to stop the English who occupied Buenos Aires in June 1806 under the command of William Carr Beresford .

Sobremonte and the colonial administration fled to Cordoba and tried to recapture the coast and the capital from there. Ultimately, however, it was not the Spanish colonial troops but local militiamen under Santiago de Liniers who drove the British out again in August 1806. They denied Sobremonte access to Buenos Aires and charged serious allegations that he had shown cowardice and, above all, tried to bring his family and property to safety during the escape.

Sobremonte then withdrew to Montevideo to fend off a second invasion by the English, but there too he failed. After the British had successfully conquered Montevideo under John Whitelocke , the Real Audiencia of Buenos Aires deposed Sobremonte as viceroy in February 1807 and arrested him. In his place, the Cabildo Abierto (the self-appointed city council of liberated Buenos Aires) proclaimed Liniers viceroy.

In 1809 Sobremonte returned to Europe. In 1813 a court martial in Cádiz dealt with the allegations against him and acquitted him on the essential points. He still held a few offices in Spain, including as Minister in the Council of India from 1814 to 1819.

After the death of his first wife, he married a second time in 1820 at the age of 75. His second wife, María Teresa Millán y Marlos, was the widow of a nephew of Baltasar de Cisneros , effectively the last Spanish viceroy on the Río de la Plata before Argentina declared independence. Both families had reservations about this marriage.

Rafael de Sobremonte died in Cádiz in early 1827.

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• Biography (spanish)
• Biography (spanish)
• Biography (spanish)

predecessor	Office	successor
Joaquín del Pino Sánchez de Rojas	Viceroy of the Río de la Plata 1804–1807	Santiago de Liniers