Paulino Alfonso
Paulino Alfonso del Barrio (26 August 1862 – 12 July 1923) was a Chilean lawyer, academic, writer and politician. He served two non-consecutive terms as a member of the Chamber of Deputies, representing Illapel, Ovalle and Combarbalá from 1894 to 1897 and Valdivia and La Unión from 1909 to 1912.
Biography
Alfonso was born in Valparaíso on 26 August 1862, the son of José Alfonso Cavada and Leticia del Barrio Lurquin. He married Clara Schleyer Helmkampff, with whom he had four children.
He studied at the San Rafael Seminary, the Padres Franceses school, the Liceo de Valparaíso and the Instituto Nacional. He subsequently studied law at the University of Chile and was admitted to the bar on 5 July 1886. He joined the university's chair of civil law as a substitute professor in 1887 and became its titular professor the following year. In 1892, he was appointed secretary of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences.
In 1889 and 1890, Alfonso accompanied his father as secretary when the latter represented Chile at the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C. During this period, he travelled extensively in the United States and Europe. Following his return to Chile during the Chilean Civil War of 1891, he served as secretary to Jorge Montt, president of the revolutionary Government Junta, until after the congressional victory.
Outside politics, Alfonso maintained an extensive academic and intellectual career. He was elected president of the First Latin American Scientific Congress held in Buenos Aires in 1898. In 1915, he became a member of the Chilean Academy and was later appointed a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He also participated for several years in the Fine Arts Commission and the Superior Council of Public Hygiene.
Alfonso wrote on legal, historical and literary subjects and also produced poetry. His works included studies of the Chilean Civil Code, speeches, letters and biographical essays, while several literary works remained unpublished. In 1923, he served as director and legal adviser of the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza Eléctrica.
Political career
During his youth, Alfonso joined the Radical Party and eventually became secretary of its Central Board, a position he held until March 1894. That year, he was elected deputy for Illapel, Ovalle and Combarbalá for the 1894–1897 legislative period. He served on the Education and Charity Committee.
Around this period, he left the Radical Party and joined the Liberal Doctrinaire Party. After several years outside Congress, he returned to parliamentary politics in 1909, when he was elected deputy for Valdivia and La Unión for the 1909–1912 legislative period. During this term, he served as a substitute member of the Foreign Relations Committee and as a member of the Legislation and Justice Committee.
His parliamentary work included economic policy, public expenditure, foreign affairs and public health. He supported a conciliatory settlement of the Tacna–Arica dispute and, together with Ramón Corbalán Melgarejo, participated in drafting Chile's sanitary code.
Alfonso died in Viña del Mar on 12 July 1923, aged 60.