Rosas

General Rosas was born in Buenos Aires in 1793. In 1810 independence was declared from Spanish rule and the name Argentina was first used in 1826.

Rosas was Governor of Buenos Aires from 1829-31 and again in 1835.
Whoever controlled the capital in effect controlled the nation.

He offered to renounce all claims to the Falkland Isles if Britain released Argentina from its debts but we refused.

Rosas was a ruthless dictator but in 1852 he was defeated by forces opposed to his rule. He was smuggled out on a British ship and arrived in Southampton where he remained until his death in 1877. For many years he lay in Southampton Old Cemetery on the Common. His body was eventually repatriated.