Mariano Billinghurst (November 26, 1810 – June 13, 1892) was an Argentine businessman and politician, pioneer in the construction of the national railroads. The locality of Billinghurst in the

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...

, and the Billinghurst street in Buenos Aires are named after him.

Biography

He was born in Buenos Aires, son of Robert Billinghurst, an immigrant born in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, England, and Maria Francisca Agrelo Moreyra, born in Buenos Aires. His father had served as gunner during the Siege of Montevideo. He had to go into exile for political reasons in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay, where he lived between 1840 and 1850. During this decade he began his career as an entrepreneur, being owner of a

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...

factory in Buenos Aires. Later he served as auctioneer at the first property sales house of the city. As a railway entrepreneur, he installed the

horse-drawn tram A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is a tram or streetcar pulled by a horse. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, which developed ou ...

lines, connecting Plaza de la Victoria to

Flores Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. Administratively, it forms the largest island in the East Nusa Tenggara Province. The area is 14,250 km2. Including Komodo and Rinca islands ...

and Plaza de la Victoria to

Belgrano Belgrano may refer to: People * Joaquín Belgrano (1773–1848), an Argentine patriot * José Denis Belgrano (1844–1917), Spanish painter * Joseph Belgrano (1762–1823), Argentine military officer and politician, brother of Manuel * Manuel Be ...

. He also built the railway line that linked Buenos Aires with the city of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

Family

Mariano was the great-grandfather of aviator Susana Ferrari Billinghurst. Susana in turn was the grandmother of actress Luciana Pedraza, the wife of actor

Robert Duvall Robert Selden Duvall (; born January 5, 1931) is an American actor. With a career spanning seven decades, he is regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. He has received an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billinghurst, Mariano 1810 births 1892 deaths M Businesspeople from Buenos Aires Politicians from Buenos Aires People from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of English descent Argentine people of Galician descent Río de la Plata