Argentina's General San Martin & Banff

 In 1950 the Royal Burgh of Banff celebrated its association with its most famous honorary burgess - Argentina’s national hero, General José Francisco de San Martin.

The documents

The documents that illustrate this event have all come from a file in the Banff Burgh collection that was originally compiled by the Town Clerk at the time that the event was organised.

Aside from giving a very detailed account of the work involved in pulling such an event together, this file also shows that archives don’t just hold ancient parchment documents. In fact, much of the material they hold was created more recently, sometimes even in the 1990s or 2000s, so the age of a document is not necessarily an element in its selection for preservation. This judgement usually centres around whether the document provides good evidence about how the creating organisation or individual worked, and the importance of the information contained within it.

As we will see, even the small selection of documents highlighted from this file are excellent evidence of an event that played an important part in publicising Banff around the world and in maintaining good international relations with Argentina. They also represent part of a unique record that illustrates a lesser-known episode in the history of Banff, making them highly worthy of preservation for generations to come.

General San Martin

General José Francisco de San Martin (1778-1850) was an Argentine General and leading figure in South America’s struggle for independence from Spain. He was a close friend of Lord James Duff, 4^th Earl of Fife, whom he had met and fought beside during his early military career in Europe.

After retiring from his political and military life in South America, General San Martin emigrated to Europe and stayed briefly with Lord Duff at his home in Macduff, Banffshire, in 1824. During this stay the Burgh of Banff honoured him by giving him the Freedom of the Burgh on 19 August 1824.

Sadly, the Burgess Register of Banff containing the record of General San Martin being made an Honorary Burgess does not appear to have survived, but the diploma that was given to him on the occasion is preserved in the Sanmartinian Institute in Buenos Aires.  

[Originally published as our Document of the Month in April 2008]