Henrique da Fonseca de Sousa Prego

Henrique da Fonseca de Sousa Prego (19 April 1768 – 25 March 1847) was a Portuguese naval officer and last Captain-General of the Azores nominated by King Miguel I.

Henrique da Fonseca Sousa Prego was born in Lisbon, civil parish of São Tomé.

[5] Two days after his departure for Lisbon, on 22 June, a liberal uprising took place in Angra do Heroísmo which, with the support of the 5th Battalion, in order to reestablish the Portuguese Constitutional Charter of 1826, and expelled the former ruler, Touvar.

But, when Sousa Prego arrived in the region he was prevented from disembarking, and his luggage was seized and sold in a public square.

Returning to Lisbon, Sousa Prego discovered that D. Miguel I had staged a coup and taken power as absolute monarch.

Noronha had been invested as Governor and Captain-General by the liberal Government-in-Exile (by royal letter dated 5 April 1829) by Queen D. Maria II with the assistance of the Marquis of Palmela, then minister of Portugal in London.

But, faced with the deteriorating military situation in the Azores from various insurrections, D. Miguel I decided in July 1829 to order an attack on the island of Terceira.

To this end, he sent the majority of his armada, commanded by José Joaquim da Rosa Coelho and battalion under the direction of Colonel José António de Azevedo Lemos, to the Azores to be joined by the remainder of his forces in Ponta Delgada, under the command of Sousa Prego, to attack Angra.

Sousa Prego and Rosa Coelho were accused of a lack of zeal and firmness in preparing the landing and executing the operation.

Finally, at the Battle of Ladeira da Velha on the island of São Miguel, Sousa Prego's forces were defeated.