Antão de Almada, 12th Count of Avranches

D. Antão de Almada, 12th Count of Avranches, 9th Lord of Pombalinho and 14th Majorat of Lagares d'El-Rei (19 April 1718 – 26 January 1797) was the Grand Master of Ceremonies for the Royal House and, owing to his positions, made administrator of a few Portuguese colonies, including the first Captain-General of the Azores.

Biography Antão de Almada was born in 1718 in Condeixa-a-Nova, in paternal family palace:

He married on 24 October 1756, D. Violante Josefa de Almada Henriques (11th Countess of Avranches and 10th Mistress of Pombalinho), who was his niece.

He obtained the position of deputy in the Estates General, and was part of the Royal Council, by order of Joseph I of Portugal (22 August 1766). and nominated in 1750 to the position of alcaide and commander of Proença-a-Velha.

Captaincy-General Circled by military, social and religious figures he arrived in Angra on 28 September 1766 to preside as the first Presidente da Junta da Administração e Arrecadação da Real Fazenda e Governador e Capitão-General das Ilhas dos Açores (President of the Administrative Junta, Collector of the Royal Treasury and Governor/Captain-General of the Azores), a sequence of a charter dated 2 August 1766. He took office on 7 October.

During his tenure, Almada faced various problems, one of which was issues associated with local currency. On Terceira Island (where he resided), he rebuilt the Angra customs-house, created a public yard to store wheat, installed new cranes in the port of Angra, revitalized the woad industry and repaired many of the island forts. Almada governed with two Azorean counsels (João Cabral de Melo and Jose Vieira) until 1774 (although it is unclear when he returned to Lisbon). Many Azoreans were unmotivated by his policies and he only had effective power over Terceira Island.

Later life He died on 26 January 1797, aged 78, and was buried in his family chapel, in the church of the Graça Convent, in Lisbon.