Reinald Oudinot

Reinaldo Oudinot
Reinaldo Oudinot
Born	1744 (1744) Sampigny, Diocese of Verdun, France
Died	11 February 1807 (1807-02-12) (aged 62) Funchal, Madeira Island
Rank	Brigadier of Royal Engineers

Reinaldo Oudinot (or Renauld Oudinot) was a French military engineer from the 18th century, who became most famous for his hydraulic works on the Portuguese harbours of Porto, Aveiro, Leiria and Funchal. Even though he was born and educated in France, he started his career in Portugal, where he developed several projects on different fields such as: architecture, urban planning, hydraulic engineering and agriculture development. In 1803, he was to become one of the most ranked engineers on the Portuguese army as he was promoted to Brigadier of the Royal Engineers.

Reinaldo Oudinot was born in 1744 in Sampigny on the diocese of Verdun in France. It has been written that after finishing his degree in engineering he travelled to England, arriving in Portugal in 1766. On 5 September he signed in the Portuguese Army, beginning his military career with the post of infantry helper. In his first years he worked at the Province of Estremadura where Later in 1768 he joined the team of Gilherme Elsden on the surveys for Tejo, upgrading to Infantry Officer on 8 February.

In 1773 Reinaldo Oudinot was nominated to be the head-director of the Hydraulic works in the Lis River in Leiria. During this assignment, he developed several surveys of the Pinhal de Leiria. The project developed by Oudinot to the Lis river had two stages: the first, consisted of the regularization of the river channel through the cleaning of the sands and the establishment of the river into a straight line; the second, consisted of the construction of a floodwall to prevent future floods to happen over the lands in the south. During these improvementson the harbour, the consort king D. Pedro III, heir of these lands, valued the work of Oudinot, allowing him to expand his ideas for the harbour in 1778. In 1787, after the death of D. Pedro, the succeeding prince D. João ordered an inspection on the hydraulic works made on the Lis River. This inspection resulted in a new project proposal by sergeant major Manuel Caetano de Sousa, who contested the hydraulic project of Reinaldo Oudinot. These actions cause Oudinot to be removed from the direction of the harbour. Although the presence of Reinaldo Oudinot was no longer required in Leiria, a short time later he was assigned to work on Porto, to open and clean the harbour of Douro River. During this time, he developed an astonishing amount of work that extended to architecture design and urban planning.