Torrijos, 1831, Historical Society - Irish flag presentation.
Newspaper article.
Google Translation.
St Patricks Day 2019
1. Iglesia Santo Patricio.
2. Plaza de la Merced.
General Torrijos,
although from Madrid, is tied to Andalusia for his many activities
here. From Andalusia he revived the fight for freedom against the
despotic king Fernando VII. It was in Andalusia where he died, in
Málaga, executed by those he fought against.
Jose
María de Torrijos y Uriarte was born in Madrid the 20th March, 1791.
He came from a noble family and joined the army very young, first as a
pageboy for King Carlos IV at ten years old and when he was thirteen he
achieved the title of captain of the Ultonian regiment, though he
couldn’t exert it due to his young age. In 1808, he enrolled in the
Academy of Alcalá de Henáres, where he was surprised by the
Independence war, fighting bravely from the beginning against the
French. He was promoted to colonel in 1813 and married Luisa Sáenz de
Viniegra in Badajoz. He obtained all types of military decorations and a
proposition from the Duke of Wellington for Brigadier, which
materialised at the end of the war, a war where he fought under the
orders of his future executioner, Captain Vicente González Moreno.
The
re-establishment of absolutism annulled the constitution of 1812 and
because of this he joined the Liberal Party and refused to leave for
América to fight against the Independentists. Andalusia was vital for
any attempted rebellion, the troops being concentrated here ready to
leave for América where the colonies were fighting against the Spanish.
In 1817, Torrijos participated in the attempted rebellion of General
Lacy to raise the army in Andalusia and because of this was taken to
prison, first to the Castle of Santa Bárbara in Alicante and later to
the Santo Oficio prison in Murcia.
With
the victorious rebellion of Riego in 1820 he was set free and the
Liberal Triennium named him commissioner of war at the beginning of
1823, directing the resistance against the “One hundred thousand
children of San Luis” the French army being sent by the European powers
to replace the absolutists in the Spanish government.
After
being defeated in Cartagena, Torrijos and his wife were forced to flee
to Marseilles and from there to England (1824), where he contacted with
the rest of the liberals in exile.
In England he formed a friendship with John Sterling, a well known landowner who presented him to Robert Boyd,
ex_official of the English army in India who had fought in the Greek
Independence war. Boyd, a romantic like Torrijos, committed himself to
help him recover the freedom in Spain through his good name and fortune.
With
the support of the “Apostles of Cambridge”, a radical society of exiled
liberal Spaniards in England, and commissioned by the “Board of
directors of the Spanish Uprising”, they arrived in Gibraltar in
September 1830, disembarking on the 9th, meeting with old collaborators
such as the ex_president of the Spanish parliament, Manuel Flores
Calderón, the ex_minister of war, Francisco Fernández Golfín and
other important military figures.
After
deciding that a rebellion of the army against the absolutist government
would be hard to achieve, they attempted a raid on Algeciras on the
24th October and another on the 11th November. As both of them failed,
Torrijos was forced to hide in boats anchored in Gibraltar.
Seeing
it impossible to act in the Gibraltar region because of the extreme
vigilance, Torrijos received with high spirits the secret letters of a
“very confidential” friend, with the nickname of Viriato he informed him
that the best place to disembark was Vélez Málaga, and that with the
presence of the Málaga troops first, and later those of all Andalusia,
they would rebel against the King Fernando VII. In fact this was a trap
planned by his old comrade-in-arms and now Governor of Málaga Vicente
González Moreno, who under the name of “Viriato” took advantage of
Torrijos ́s impatience and planned his capture.
On
the 30th November 1831 they left Gibraltar in various hulls only to
find they had been deceived when they reached the point of Calaburras
and found the Neptune ship waiting for them. Because of this they were
forced to disembark in Mijas Costa (Charcón beach) and flee inland.
First they arrived in Mijas where they received several gunshots from
the armed military forces and then crossed the mountains to Alhaurín de
la Torre where they had the same welcome. After being persecuted by the
infantry they found refuge in a farmhouse belonging to the Count of
Mollina, with an ancient Arab tower near the old road to Cártama. Once
there, surrounded by the troops sent by González Moreno and after
taking both generals, he was forced to surrender along with his 52 men
on the 5th December, being captured and sent to Málaga.
In
Málaga, in different jails, they lived the same length of time that it
took González Moreno to send a messenger to Madrid, General Narváez.
He returned on the 10th December with an execution order given by the
decadent and bloodthirsty Fernando VII, who wrote with his own hand:
“Execute them all. I, the King”.
At
11:30 am on the 11th December 1831 on the Málaga beaches of San
Andrés, in front of the Carmen district, they were all executed without
exception, including the Englishman Robert Boyd and a young cabin boy
from the boat. Flores Calderón and Fernández Golfín also perished
along with other soldiers and sailors. Torrijos was denied his last
request which was to give the order to open fire and die without their
eyes covered.
Their
bodies were buried in the San Miguel cemetery, except for Robert Boyd
who went to the recently inaugurated English cemetery, until 1842, when
the city council of Málaga built on popular demand a funeral monument
(an obelisk) which was erected in their honour in Plaza Riego, today
Plaza de la Merced, in front of the native house of the painter Pablo
Ruiz Picasso, under which they all rest. A cross also commemorates the
place of his death, now a promenade.
The
Governor González Moreno, who from then on was known as “The
executioner of Málaga” received for his treason a promotion to General
Lieutenant and the post of Captain-General of Granada. When the Carlista
war broke out he died assassinated by army volunteers in 1839.
The
sacrifice of Torrijos and his comrades was not in vain and they were
remembered constantly in the following years for after the death of King
Fernando VII in 1833, the liberals obtained the power and the widow of
Torrijos, Da Luisa Carlota Sáenz de Viniegra was honoured with the
title of Countess of Torrijos. His death, and the death of Mariana
Pineda, was one of the last caused by the absolutism in Andalusia
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