Ramón Santillán

Ramón de Santillán González (30 August 1791 – November (?) 1863) was a Spanish soldier, politician, and Minister of Finance.

Santillán was born in Lerma (province of Burgos). He came from a relatively poor family. He matriculated in law at the University of Valladolid in 1805; his studies were interrupted by the Peninsular War. He enlisted in 1809 as a corporal in the army led by the priest Jerónimo Merino fighting for Spanish independence. He soon rose to the rank of lieutenant, and obtained the rank of captain in 1812. He remained in the Spanish Army until 1824, when he was purged from the ranks after the end of Trienio Liberal for his support of the liberal regime, despite his not having originally been an enthusiast of the uprising that brought it to power.

Nonetheless, in 1825 he was hired by the Ministry of Finance, and in the 1830s occupied responsible positions under Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. Shortly before the fall of the regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, during the minority of Queen Isabella II, he was named Minister of Finance, serving from April to July 1840, at which time the Progressive general Baldomero Espartero became regent. Despite being removed as minister, he remained at the ministry, where he worked with the Progressive finance ministers Agustín Fernández Gamboa and Pedro Surrá y Rull and later with their Moderate Party successor Juan José García Carrasco Romero, as well as with colleagues Alejandro Mon y Menéndez and Pita Pizarro.

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