Ramón de Santillán

Portrait of Ramón de Santillán González by José Gutiérrez de la Vega, from the art collection of the Bank of Spain.

Ramón de Santillán González (30 August 1791 – October 19, 1863) was a Spanish statesman who served as Minister of Finance and First Governor of the Bank of Spain.

Life Santillán was born in Lerma (province of Burgos). He came from a relatively poor family. He matriculated in law at the University of Valladolid in 1805; his studies were interrupted by the Peninsular War. He enlisted in 1809 as a corporal in the army led by the priest Jerónimo Merino fighting for Spanish independence.

Nonetheless, in 1825 he was hired by the Ministry of Finance, and in the 1830s occupied responsible positions under Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. Shortly before the fall of the regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, during the minority of Queen Isabella II, he was named Minister of Finance, serving from April to July 1840,

Although the Spanish tax reform of 1845 is often attributed solely to Mon, Santillán was his close collaborator. He was named a senator for life in the legislature of 1845-46. He served briefly again as Minister of Finance (28 January 1847 – 28 March 1847),

In 1854, months before the end of the década moderada, Santillán was dismissed for refusing the demands of the Spanish Treasury. he remained in the post until his death in Madrid in November 1863. but he was not a party militant. In the 1850s, he aligned with the Liberal Union, which attempted to steer an intermediate course between those two factions.

Legacy

Santillán was depicted on Spanish banknotes twice, on the 25 pesetas banknote of 1884 and on the 1000 pesetas banknote of 1949.

Works Memoria Histórica sobre los Bancos Nacionales de San Carlos, Español de San Fernando, Isabel II, Nuevo de San Fernando y de España (1858), reissued by the Bank of Spain in 1982. Memorias (1860)