António Amaral Leitão, known as Captain Leitão, was a Portuguese military officer who became a prominent figure in the failed republican revolt in Porto on January 31, 1891. Born in Farminhão in 1845, he joined the Infantry Regiment 14 in Viseu and was promoted to captain in 1888. That year, he moved to Porto to serve with the Infantry Regiment 10.
The uprising followed the 1890 British ultimatum to Portugal, which intensified public discontent with the monarchy as republican support grew. While senior military officers did not join the revolt, Leitão’s rank gave him a notable role in an action driven mainly by sergeants, enlisted soldiers and civilians. The rebels proclaimed a republic from a window at Porto’s city hall, but government forces responded with gunfire and bombardment. Twelve people were killed, according to the account.
Leitão and other participants were arrested, tried and sentenced. He was deported to Angola, then a Portuguese colony, but escaped to Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, he took part in the Portuguese Republican Centre. He later returned to Portugal and died in Farminhão in 1905.
After the republic was established in 1910, the Federal Republican Centre of Beira Alta planned a tribute at Leitão’s grave for January 31, 1911, the 20th anniversary of the Porto revolt. Bad weather forced organizers to move the event to the Teatro Viriato in Viseu. Those attending included district governor Ricardo Pais Gomes and other local republican figures.
Another memorial event was attempted in 1947 by the Democratic Unity Movement, but the authorities prohibited it. Organizers had planned to place a commemorative plaque at the cemetery. The plaque was installed in 1978, after the 25 April revolution, alongside a second plaque recalling the ban on the 1947 tribute. Both remain at the cemetery entrance in Farminhão.
Sources: Observador.