João do Canto e Castro Silva Antunes

The son of a general; was educated at a Portuguese-British college; entered naval academy (1881); graduated with the rank of guarda-marinha (1883); promoted to second lieutenant (1887); served aboard the corvettes Bartolomeu Dias and Estefânia, frigate D. Fernando, transport África and gunboats Tâmega, Liberal and Zaire; visited Portuguese colonies Macao, Timor and Mozambique; briefly served as a military commander in Mozambique (1889-1890); participated in the commission for delimitation of boundaries of Congo (1890); promoted to first lieutenant (1891), taught at a Lisbon military academy; appointed (1892) governor of Mozambique, but was forced to return to Portugal on account of health problems; participated in suppressing the revolts of local population in Mozambique (1894); served as a governor of Moçâmedes (1895-1896); returned to navy and commanded the gunboats Diu and Vouga; elected to the Câmara dos Senhores Deputados (1908-1910); promoted to capitão-de-fragata (1910); appointed commander of the Leixões navy academy (1910) and head of the Navy Department of the North (1910); assigned command of cruiser Adamastor (1913), stationed in Macao, and made a long journey through Europe, Russia and China to assume the post; promoted to capitão-de-mar-e-guerra (1915); appointed commander of the navy artillery school aboard frigate D. Fernando; attained the rank of rear-admiral; served as director of service for the navy general staff (1918); secretary of state for navy (7 Sep 1918 - 23 Dec 1918) in the government of Sidónio Pais; chosen (15 Dec 1918) President of the Provisional Government following the assassination of Sidónio Pais; elected (16 Dec 1918) by the Congress under the provisions of the 1911 Constitution, to complete the term of Bernardino Machado to 5 Oct 1919; faced a number of revolts, including the revolt calling for restoration of monarchy in Portugal led by Paiva Couceiro; losing the support of political groups, he submitted his resignation as President of the Republic on 3 Jun 1919, which was rejected by the Congress; returned to the navy after completion of presidential term; ended his military career with his promotion to full admiral (1919). Biography source: [3] [4]