Juan Bravo Murillo (24 June 1803 – 11 February 1873)[3] was a Spanish politician, jurist and economist. He was prime minister of Spain from 14 January 1851 to 14 December 1852 during the reign of Isabella II.
In January 1847 he was named Minister of Grace and Justice[2] in the government of Carlos Martínez de Irujo, Duke of Sotomayor.[3][2] General Ramón María Narváez later named him Minister of Commerce, Instruction, and Public Works,[2] then in 1849 Minister of Finance.[2] He was named President of the Council of Ministers of Spain,[2] effectively prime minister, taking office on 14 January 1851,[3] while serving as his own Minister of Finance.[2] The events of the Revolutions of 1848 throughout Europe led him to propose[9] an anti-parliamentarian, absolutist constitution for Spain in 1852, countering the moderate liberal tendency of the Spanish Constitution of 1845, but it proved unpopular and was rejected.[2][9] He lost his position as head of government 14 December 1852;[3] the onset of the bienio progresista some 18 months later led him to leave Spain, returning in 1856.[3] He served as President of the Congress of Deputies in 1858,[2][6] and was named to the Spanish Senate in 1863[2] as a senator for life.[10]
He is responsible for founding Canal de Isabel II, the public company that still brings water to Madrid,[11] the establishment of civil service exams (oposiciones),[9][12] the introduction of the metric system into Spain in 1849,[13] the Concordat of 1851 that settled differences between the Spanish government and the Holy See,[2] and the 1852 Canaries Free Ports Act.[14] He was also responsible for a variety of measures in his capacity as minister of finance, and founded what later became the Boletín Oficial del Estado, which remains the Spanish government's official gazette to this day.[3]
The most interesting of his writings were published in six volumes entitled Opúsculos ("Pamphlets", 1863–1874). He died in Madrid on 11 February 1873.[2]
Elections to Congress of Deputies
Bravo Murillo was elected to the Congress of Deputies on 12 occasions, and represented constituencies in five different provinces (sometimes two of them at the same time):
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxBravo Murillo, Juan 21. Elecciones 25.3.1857, www.congreso.es, in the database of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Includes an extensive list of offices he held (which is reproduced identically on other pages about elections). Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
^ abBravo Murillo, Juan and linked records, in the database of Deputies on the official site of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
^ abcdBravo Murillo, Juan, www.congreso.es, in the database of Presidents of the Congress on the official site of the Spanish Congress of Deputies. Retrieved online 2010-02-28.
^ abGoverns d' Isabel II. Dècada Moderada, Base documental d'Història Contemporània de Catalunya, xtec.es. Retrieved 2010-02-28. Los Gobiernos del Reino de España 1833 - 1868Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine, www.elisanet.fi/daglarsson generally confirms this and adds some information (e.g. it gives precise dates, and adds minister of Commerce, Instruction and Public Works) but seems to be a personal site privately maintained by an individual; it has not been used here as a source.