Prime Minister of Portugal. He was a Portuguese lawyer, journalist, deputy and senator. José Augusto Soares Ribeiro de Castro was born on April 7, 1848, in the village of Valhelhas, Guarda Municipality. He graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra and worked as a lawyer in Guarda, Fundão and Lisbon. In 1874 he married Maria Benedita da Cunha Pignatelli, with whom he had at least three children, one of whom was Álvaro de Castro, who became Prime Minister. A member of the Freemasons since 1868, his political career began as a member of the Progressive Party, supporting the constitutional monarchy, but evolved towards republicanism, joining the Portuguese Republican Party in 1881. As a journalist, he was the main editor of the periodical "O Districto da Guarda", serving as such since its foundation in 1878. He founded the first Republican newspaper outside the major urban centers, starting to publish "O Povo Português" in 1882. With the establishment of the Republic in 1910, he was elected as a constituent deputy and was later appointed as senator. During the dictatorial government of General Pimenta de Castro, he was one of the senators and deputies who considered Pimenta de Castro's government and Manuel de Arriaga's presidency to be outside the law. Pimenta de Castro's government ended up being overthrown by his son Álvaro de Castro, who led the revolutionary junta, investing João Chagas, who was away in Paris, and José de Castro as Minister of Public Instruction. Later, when Chagas was returning to take office, he was a victim of an attack at the Entroncamento train station by a senator, where he was seriously wounded. José de Castro took over as head of the government on an interim basis from May 17 to May 29, 1915, which became effective, ruling a democratic government until November 30 of the same year, having resumed his position as senator until the Sidonist Revolution in 1917, and from then on he withdrew from active political life until his death.