# José Duarte Coelho

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https://entroncamento.org/president-jose-duarte-coelho.html

## Life and public service

A railway technical employee and former parish president, José Duarte Coelho led the municipality during its early consolidation. He supported the creation of the volunteer fire brigade in 1948. The railway gazette records his departure from office on 14 November 1959.

## Education and professional career

Coelho combined railway employment with local government. CP’s 1958 bulletin identifies him as mayor and a technical employee of its track-and-works division. The November 1959 railway gazette records fifty years of railway service. Maria Asseiceiro’s retrospective describes him as a native of Santarém who settled young in Entroncamento and led the parish council from 1926; it is a personal remembrance, not a contemporary appointment record.

## Legacy and public memory

A 2009 account dates his municipal inauguration to 15 November 1947 and his death to 15 January 1976. The bust installed near the town hall in 2009 recognised his role in municipal autonomy. The same report records criticism from the PCP of commemorating an Estado Novo office-holder. The monument therefore documents both civic recognition and a debate over how the city remembers the dictatorship.

## What the documents establish

The Presidential Archive catalogues a telegram dated 9 August 1958 from Coelho, identified as mayor, congratulating Américo Tomás on taking office as President of the Republic. Reference GB.0500/284 describes a single sheet. This is a dated record of official correspondence; the catalogue citation is preserved here, not a copy of the telegram.

## Chronology

1926A later local memoir places him at the head of the parish council.[5]

1947-11-15Takes office as municipal president, according to the retrospective account.[6]

1958The CP bulletin documents his connection with railway track and works services.[4]

1958-08-09Sends the presidential congratulatory telegram catalogued as GB.0500/284.[7]

1959Railway service jubilee and end of the municipal presidency.[3][2]

1976-01-15Date of death given in the 2009 commemoration report.[6]

## Research notes

This is a sourced research dossier. Contemporary records, later historical accounts and personal recollections are distinguished where they differ. An announced project is not treated as a completed achievement. Linked catalogues may describe documents that are not available as digital scans.

Birth, education and family details have not all been independently established. Unverified personal details are omitted.

## Original source

1. Biblioteca Municipal · WikiTejo — https://wikitejo.mediotejo.pt/index.php/sociedade/39-politica/118-presidentes-do-municipio
2. Maria Antónia Pires de Almeida — O poder local do Estado Novo à democracia, p. 280 — https://repositorio.iscte-iul.pt/bitstream/10071/11920/5/Livro_Presidentes_e_GC_2013_MAPAlmeida.pdf
3. Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro, n.º 1726 — 16 de novembro de 1959 — https://www.cp.pt/info/documents/d/cp/1959-gazeta-n1726?download=true
4. Boletim da CP, n.º 350 — 1958 — https://www.cp.pt/info/documents/d/cp/boletim-350-1958?download=true
5. José Duarte Coelho, por Maria Asseiceiro — texto de 1994, republicado em 2021 — https://www.entroncamentoonline.pt/portal/janela-sobre-a-cidade-maria-asseiceiro-jose-duarte-coelho-o-construtor-dos-alicerces-da-cidade/
6. José Duarte Coelho: busto e debate público — O MIRANTE, 2009 — https://omirante.pt/semanario/2009-09-10/sociedade/2009-09-09-busto-do-responsavel-pela-criacao-do-concelho-do-entroncamento-em-frente-a-camara
7. Arquivo da Presidência — telegrama de José Duarte Coelho, GB.0500/284, 9 de agosto de 1958 — https://www.arquivo.presidencia.pt/details?detailsType=Description&id=198996