Juan Ignacio de Osma

Juan Ignacio de Osma belonged to a Lima family with several members in public service. Born on 1 July 1821, he was a younger brother of Joaquín José de Osma, a Peruvian diplomat. He was also distinct from their brother Ignacio, the later mayor of Lima; the two men have sometimes been conflated. ¹

During the Lobos Islands dispute of 1852, Juan Ignacio challenged Secretary of State Daniel Webster’s assertion that Americans could remove guano without Peru’s permission. He presented historical and legal evidence for Peruvian sovereignty and helped obtain cancellation of instructions promising US naval protection to the expeditions. His brother Joaquín subsequently conducted the special mission that secured Washington’s formal recognition of Peru’s title. ²

In 1856 he protested US recognition of William Walker’s regime in Nicaragua and provided financial assistance to the Nicaraguan representative José de Marcoleta. His Washington legation became a centre for negotiations among Spanish American representatives. On 9 November they signed a proposed alliance and confederation intended to defend their countries against foreign aggression. It never entered into force. In the subsequent dispute over the captured guano vessels Georgiana and Lizzie Thompson, Osma helped obtain opinions from American jurists supporting Peru’s position. ³

Named minister of Government, Worship and Public Works in February 1857, Osma remained in the United States. Juan Manuel del Mar was appointed in April to administer the portfolio pending his arrival. ⁵

Osma married Emilia Rosa Scull y Andouin, whose family was established in Cuba. Their son Guillermo Joaquín de Osma y Scull, born in Havana in 1853, later entered Spanish public life and endowed Oxford’s de Osma Studentship. The family lost Emilia Rosa in 1858 and their younger son Juan soon afterwards. ⁴