top of page

69 Labourer -> Supreme Director -> Exile

Writer's picture: Dave GobleDave Goble

Updated: Mar 28, 2024

Quite a career. This is a bronze bust in Richmond, on the Surrey bank of the Thames, a few yards from the bridge. It celebrates a South American revolutionary leader named Bernardo O’Higgins, who from 17 years of age spent about five formative years of his education here, in Richmond.


O’Higgins, looking out over the Thames toward East Twickenham on the other bank


Born in 1776/78 in Chillán, southern Chile, (then a colony of Spain); O'Higgins died in Peru in 1842, aged 64. He was the first Chilean head of state, acting as “supreme director” from 1817–23, commanding the military forces that won independence from Spain.


He was the illegitimate son of Ambrosio O’Higgins, a Spanish officer of Irish origin who became governor of Chile and later viceroy of Peru; his mother was Isabel Riquelme, a prominent lady of Chillán.


Bernardo’s father had only indirect contact with his son, who used his maternal surname until his father’s death. At 12, Bernardo was sent to Lima for his secondary education. Four years later he went to Spain. At 17 he was sent to England for further education.

While in London he became imbued with a sense of nationalist pride in Chile, fostered by his contact with several political activists, of whom Francisco Miranda, the Venezuelan champion of Latin American independence, was the greatest influence. With several other future revolutionary leaders, he belonged to a secret Masonic lodge established in London by Miranda, the members of which were dedicated to the independence of Latin America. In 1799 he left England for Spain, where he came into contact with Latin American clerics who also favoured independence and doubtless further strengthened his views. His political position was remarkable in view of the fact his father was viceroy of Peru.



The river flows about thirty yards away, with Richmond Bridge just visible on the right


By the plinth supporting the bust


Ambrosio died in 1801, leaving Bernardo a large hacienda near Chillán; by 1803 he was working the estate. This interlude may have been the most satisfying period of his life. The hacienda began to prosper almost immediately, and Bernardo was soon maintaining a house in Chillán. In 1806 he became a member of the local town council.


Before O’Higgins had time to settle into his agrarian way of life, the foundations of Chilean society were coming under threat. In 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain, which, occupied with its own defence, left its colonies, including Chile, largely uncontrolled; the first steps toward national independence began to be taken throughout Spanish America. On September 18th 1810 a national junta, composed of local leaders who replaced the governor-general, was established in Santiago, and by 1811 Chile had its own congress. O’Higgins was a member, and during the next two years he played a key role in the country’s turbulent political affairs.


By early 1813 Chile had a constitution and a junta that seemed able to control the country and to avert the threat of civil war. In 1814, however, the viceroy of Peru sponsored an expedition to re-establish royal authority. Within a few months, O’Higgins rose from the rank of colonel of militia to general in chief of the independentist forces. Soon he was also appointed governor of the province of Concepción, in which the early fighting took place. But the war went badly, and O’Higgins was superseded in command. In October 1814, at Rancagua, the Chilean patriots led by him lost decisively to the royalist forces, which, for the next three years, occupied the country.


Several thousand Chileans, including O’Higgins, crossed the Andes into Argentina in flight from the royalists. O’Higgins spent the next three years preparing for the reconquest of Chile. In January 1817 he returned to Chile with the Argentine general José de San Martín and a combined army consisting of Argentine troops and Chilean exiles. At Chacabuco, in February 1817, they decisively defeated the Spanish, and, with Chile largely reconquered, O’Higgins was elected interim supreme director.


For the next six years, as supreme director, O’Higgins maintained a successful administration. He created a working government and provided the essentials of the new nation: peace and order. Under adverse circumstances he succeeded in building a national navy and in mounting a major military expedition against Peru to fight the royalists. O’Higgins, however, was not politically astute: by 1820 he had antagonized the conservative church and the unruly aristocracy with his reforms. Later he alienated the business community, failing to perceive the importance of a solid political base, and, because his support was built on his prestige as a war leader in a threatened country, his fall was assured once the danger of war had disappeared. O’Higgins was associated with a grand scheme of continental independence that was essentially Argentine in its conception; by the time of his resignation - under pressure - in January 1823, a growing Chilean nationalism had rendered him and his Argentine colleagues much less attractive than they had been in 1817.


In 1809, at the age of 31, O’Higgins had observed: “The career to which I seem inclined by instinct and character, is that of labourer”; in rural life, he would have come to be “a good campesino and a useful citizen.” As supreme director, O’Higgins had the positive attributes of solid moral principles, an eagerness to work hard, and singular honesty. In the countryside, as he himself understood, these virtues would have been ample, but in public administration they were not.

From 1823 until his death from heart failure in 1842, O’Higgins lived in exile in Peru, dividing his time between his hacienda and Lima. His last years were poignantly similar to his first: in his youth, circumstances required that he live away from home; now in maturity, circumstances again conspired to keep him abroad. In both periods he longed to return home.

Little is known of O’Higgins’ personal life. Though he never married, he managed to acquire a family, in the same manner as his father had. His natural son Pedro Demetrio O’Higgins was his companion in exile.


O’Higgins was a liberal in the 19th Century sense of the term and an admirer of the British constitutional system. Although not as conservative as some contemporary Chilean leaders, he was not a democrat either. While his reputation since his death has fluctuated with the political predilections of governments and historians, his leading role in establishing Chile as a republic remains unquestioned.


The Order of Bernardo O'Higgins

Award issued by Chile, established in 1965, as the highest civilian honour for non-Chilean citizens


Bernardo O'Higgins National Park is situated 31 miles north of Puerto Natales, next to the Torres del Paine National Park.


Red arrow marks the spot where the bust sits

37 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page