Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Private Promoter in Charge Person An individual. Birthplace Great Britain Occupation Private Promoter Speculator Biographical Text Hardy Hislop was an English entrepreneur and speculator responsible for one of the first proposals for the construction of the eastern railway line in Portugal. His importance for the History of Construction is related precisely to his influence in the first years of life of the railway network in Portugal. Despite being easily integrated with the Portuguese mid-nineteenth century political circles, Hardy Hislop was later unfavourably described by “Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro”. This magazine described him as a “man of great ambitions, but of few means of fortune. An aborted embryo of Cecil Rhodes”. The Englishman was back then the representative of one of the first groups of English businessmen interested in building the railways in Portugal, having presented a project by Thomas Rumball for the construction of what would become the “Linha do Leste”, connecting Lisbon to the border with Spain, in Badajoz. On June 18, 1851, the year his project was submitted, a committee was created to consider this proposal. Following this commission, Fontes Pereira de Melo, Minister of Finance, created the tender for the construction of the first section of “Linha do Leste”, launched on May 6, 1852. One of the three proposals was from the “Companhia Central Peninsular dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses”, represented by Hislop. Created in 1853, it was was the first railway company created in Portugal, resulting from the initiative of a group of English businessmen, namely John David Barri, John Owens, James Kitson, Charles Waring and Thomas Rumball and represented precisely by Hardy Hislop. Hislop and the company, winner of the tender, committed themselves to build the first section from Lisbon to Santarém, as predicted by the tender, but also the following sections to Porto and to the border, once the definitive concessions were won. However, several obstacles were put in place, delaying the beginning of the construction of the railway. The administration, like the rest of the company's structure, was drastically changed in the years following the foundation of the company. On the other hand, there were consecutive incompatibilities between the company and the contractors. For these reasons, the first section of the line was only inaugurated, after several interruptions in 1855, on October 28, 1856. Hislop and the company would not survive the constant obstacles to building the “Linha do Leste”. In 1857, a year later, Carlos Bento da Silva presented a bill, accepted by the Portuguese courts, with the purpose of condemning the contract with the company, and, consequently, signing a new one with the British engineer and businessman Samuel Morton Peto. This was the beginning of the end of the “Companhia Central Peninsular dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses” and of course of the influence of the figure of Hardy Hislop. Years later the “Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro” would describe Hislop and all the proceedings leading up to the end of his company saying, “it was just a dream”. The Englishman and the company he created were a clear example of the strong financial speculation in the follow-up of the first developments of the railways all over Europe. Bibliography ESPREGUEIRA MENDES, R. (1957). A Evolução Histórica dos Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses. Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro, Nº1669, pp. 243-246. D'ORNELLAS, C. (1936). 80 Anos de Caminhos de Ferro. Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro, Nº1173, pp. 507-509. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Hardy Hislop Profile Subject The topic of the resource Individual Actors, Entrepreneur, Private Promoter, Hardy Hislop Description An account of the resource Hardy Hislop Profile Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource PT BUILDS Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available PT BUILDS Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-07-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource PT BUILDS Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource TEXT Language A language of the resource ENG Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context IA84DOC1 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Portugal Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro