Francisco de Miranda - the Venezuelan revolutionary with a Yorkshire wife
Listener's query
"The church at Market Weighton in Yorkshire has a plaque to Sarah Andrews, who, it says, was the wife of the South American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda. I would like to know more about him and how he came to have a wife from Market Weighton in Yorkshire."
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Brief summary
Francisco de Miranda (1750-1816) was the revolutionary who paved the way for the eventual independence, not only of his native Venezuela, but of all of South America under Spanish control. He is known as "the precursor" to the man who eventually succeeded, Sim贸n Bol铆颅var.
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A Creole by birth, Miranda was a Captain in the Spanish Army, but having been in prison for disobedience, he fled after his release and spent years gaining support for his independence movement. In the 1780s he met the leaders of the American Revolution, including George Washington, and then went to Britain, still on the run from Spanish agents. Here, he tried to gain the support of the Prime Minister, William Pitt. There was a British interest in Spain losing its hold on its American colonies, though when it came to money Pitt was not very forthcoming. It was while he was in London that Miranda, something of a philanderer throughout his life - he was said even to have had an affair with Catherine the Great of Russia - met and married a Yorkshire-born farmer's daughter, Sarah Andrews. They lived in London in Grafton Street, near the British Museum. Sarah never went with him on his expeditions and brought up their two children in the capital.
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Miranda took part in the French Revolution, returned to London and then took the opportunity of the Napoleonic Wars to lead an attempted revolution in Venezuela in 1806. This expedition, to the Venezuelan coast, was unsuccessful. But in 1810 he returned to Venezuela and took charge of the revolutionary forces. He was briefly the ruler but soon there were reverses and in 1812 he surrendered to the Spanish. This so incensed Bol脙颅var and other patriots that Miranda was seized and handed over to the Spanish. He ended his days in chains in a Spanish jail, his wife never seeing him again.
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Sarah Andrews came from Market Weighton in Yorkshire and in 1981 the Venezuelan Ambassador was present in Market Weighton to unveil the plaque to her.
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Experts consulted
Professor Anthony McFarlane of Warwick University
Market Weighton local historian, Enid Greenwood
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Further reading
Karen Racine, Francisco De Miranda: A Transatlantic Life in the Age of Revolution (Scholarly Resources, 2002)
Robert Harvey, The Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence, 1810-1850 (Constable and Robinson, 2002)
Anthony McFarlane, editor, Independence and Revolution in Spanish America: Perspectives and Problems (The Brookings Institution, 1999)
John Fisher, The Economic Aspects of Spanish Imperialism in America, 1492-1810 (Liverpool University Press, 1997)
Jaime E. Rodriguez, The Independence of Spanish America (Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Enid Mary Greenwood, Market Weighton - Changing Face and Faces (Highgate Publications, 2000)
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Online:
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Francisco de Miranda
www.famousamericans.net/franciscomiranda
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Historical Text Archive
www.historicaltextarchive.com
Use Search facility to find article on Francisco de Miranda by Samuel Grogan.
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The Miranda House, London
www.venezlon.demon.co.uk/culture/miranda_house.htm
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The British Role in the Independence of South America from Spain
www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/southamericaandbritish.htm
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Vanessa has presented听science and current affairs programmes for 大象传媒, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Discovery and has presented for 大象传媒 Radio 4 & Five Live and a regular contributor to the Daily Telegraph and the Mail on Sunday, Scotsman and Sunday Herald.听