On Thursday 30 April, Cassandra Pybus, a distinguished Australian historian and award-winning writer, will talk to us about Francis Maclean. Cheese and wine will be served from 18.00 and the talk will begin at 18.30.
Members may be aware that the British Army came to the aid of Portugal to resist the Franco-Spanish invasion of 1762-1763 during the Seven Years' War, when the Count of Lippe (right) rapidly reorganised the Portuguese Army. Less well-known is that some of these British officers were later recruited by the Marquis of Pombal into the Portuguese Army. All of these were Catholic Scots from the Highland Clans who were part of Jacobite rebellion and had been exiled after the defeat at Culloden but temporarily given commissions in the British army during the Seven Years War.
One of these was Francis Maclean, who was specifically recruited in 1773 to oversee the reconstruction of the fortress at Almeida after the earthquake damage. As General Francisco Macleane, he was the Governor of Beira until the Marquis of Pombal appointed him Governor of Estremadura and Lisbon, where he supervised the final phase of the construction of the Baixa in Lisbon. He later fought for the British in the American War of Independence.
Cassandra Pybus is the author of thirteen creative non-fiction books. A former professor of history at the University of Sydney, she was also a Fulbright Professor at Georgetown University in Washington DC, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Texas, and a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at King’s College, London. Her most recent book, A Very Secret Trade, in 2024 is the last of a trilogy on the destruction of the First People of Tasmania, which was short listed for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in Australia.
The event will take place at ALA, Avenida Castelhana 13, Monte Estoril from 18.00, when cheese and wine will be provided. The cost is €5 for members and their guests, payable on the day.
After the talk there will be an opportunity to join others for dinner at the nearby restaurant called Adega do Monte.