19 Facts About Maria Lamas

Maria da Conceicao Vassalo e Silva da Cunha Lamas was born on 6 October 1893 in Torres Novas in the Santarem District of Portugal.

Maria Lamas's father was a Freemason while her mother was a pious Catholic.

Maria Lamas had two younger sisters and was the older sister of Manuel Antonio Vassalo e Silva, who would become the last Governor-General of Portuguese India, and cousin of the children's book writers Alice Vieira and of the writer and publisher Maria Lucia Vassalo Namorado.

Maria Lamas attended primary and secondary school in Torres Novas, completing her secondary education at a boarding school run by Spanish nuns, from which her father removed her, concerned that she was developing a religious vocation.

Maria Lamas moved to Lisbon and started working at the American News Agency with the help of Virginia Quaresma, Portugal's first female professional journalist.

Maria Lamas wrote for Portuguese newspapers such as Correio da Manha.

Maria Lamas became friends with other female authors in Portugal, such as Branca de Gonta Colaco.

Maria Lamas began a relationship with Ferreira de Castro, often referred to by historians as being an "amitie amoureuse".

Maria Lamas was made an Officer of the Order of Santiago on 7 February 1934, for her work on behalf of women.

Maria Lamas resigned from her position at O Seculo and began one of her most important literary works The Women of my Country, the first ever report on the living conditions of Portuguese women.

Maria Lamas continued to develop propaganda against the Estado Novo and supported the aborted Presidential candidacy of Jose Norton de Matos in 1949.

Maria Lamas was active in the Movement of Democratic Unity, which provided a platform for groups opposed to the Estado Novo.

Maria Lamas's activities led to her being imprisoned several times in the Caxias prison near Lisbon.

Maria Lamas began to develop activities to support Portuguese refugees who opposed the regime, such as Helena Pato and Stella Piteira Santos, only returning to Portugal at the end of 1969, with a guarantee that there were no arrest warrants against her.

Maria Lamas received several honours, becoming director of the Portuguese Committee for Peace and Cooperation; honorary president of the Democratic Women's Movement in 1975; and director of the publication Mulheres in 1978.

Maria Lamas received the Order of Liberty in 1980; was honoured by the Assembleia da Republica in 1982; and received the Eugenie Cotton medal from the Women's International Democratic Federation in 1983.

Maria Lamas had participated in the congress that set up the Federation, in 1946.

Maria Lamas died in Lisbon on 6 December 1983, at the age of 90, of cardiac arrest.

Maria Lamas's name has been given to several other roads and squares in other parts of Portugal.