Manuel Maria Coelho was a Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 military officer of the Portuguese Army

Portuguese Army

The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...

 and politician during the period of the Portuguese First Republic

Portuguese First Republic

The Portuguese First Republic spans a complex 16 year period in the history of Portugal, between the end of the period of constitutional monarchy marked by the 5 October 1910 revolution and the 28 May coup d'état of 1926...

. (In January 1891, he had been one of the leading revolutionaries during the Porto republican revolt.) Among other posts, he served as governor of Angola. He became Prime Minister after the Noite Sangrenta (Bloody Night) terrorist assassinations of prominent state figures (including Prime Minister António Granjo

António Granjo

António Joaquim Granjo was a Portuguese lawyer and politician.He was a republican from his youth, and was a member of the National Constituent Assembly, elected on 28 May 1911...

) on 19 October 1921. A Freemason (like many of his colleagues), he was co-author, along with João Chagas

João Chagas

João Pinheiro Chagas was a Portuguese journalist and politician. He was born in Brazil, from Portuguese parents who soon moved back to Portugal. He was an editor at the newspapers "O Primeiro de Janeiro", "Correio do Norte", "O Tempo" and "O Dia"...

, of the work História da Revolta do Porto (History of the Porto Revolt).