aide-de-camp of Espoz y Mina, then under the orders of Generals Cordoba and Espartero, in the armies of Queen Isabella, Serrano took such an active part in the Carlist War from 1834 to 1839 that he rose from the rank of captain to that of brigadier-general. His services obtained for him the Cross of San Fernando and many medals. In 1839 he was elected a member of Cortes for the first time by Malaga, and in 1840 he was made a general of division and commander of the district of Valencia, which he relinquished to take his seat in congress. From that day Serrano became one of the chief military politicians of Spain. 1 In 1841 he helped Espartero to overthrow the regency of Queen Christina; in 1843 at Barcelona he made a pronunciamiento against Espartero; he became minister of war in the Lopez cabinet, which convoked the Cortes that declared Queen Isabella of age at fifteen, served in the same capacity in an Olozaga cabinet, sulked as long as the Moderados were in office, was made a senator in 1845, captain-general of Granada in 1848, and from 1846 to 18 S3 lived quite apart from politics on his Andalusian estates or travelling. abroad. He assisted Marshal O'Donnell in the military movements of 1854 and 18 56, and was his staunch follower for twelve years. O'Donnell made him marshal in 1856 and captain-general of Cuba from,18 SQ to 1862; and Serrano not only governed that island with success, and did good service in the war in Santo Domingo, but he was the first Viceroy who advocated political and hnancial reforms in the colony. On his return to Spain he was made duke de la Torre, grandee of the first class, and minister of foreign affairs by O'Donnell. Serrano gallantly exposed his life to help O'Donnell quell the formidable insurrection of the 22nd of June 1866 at Madrid, and was rewarded with the Golden Fleece. At the death of O'Donnell, he became the chief of the Union Liberal, and as president of the senate he assisted Rios Rosas to draw up a petition to Queen Isabella against her Moderado ministers, for which both were exiled. Nothing daunted, Serrano began to conspire with the duke of Montpensier, Prim and Sagasta; and on the 7th of July 1868 Gonzalez Bravo had Serrano and other generals arrested and taken to the Canary Isles. There Serrano remained until Admiral Topete sent a steamer to bring him to Cadiz on the 18th of September of the same year. On landing, he signed the manifesto of the revolution with Prim, Topete, Sagasta, Martos and others, and accepted the command of the revolutionary army, with which he routed the troops of Queen Isabella under the orders of the marquis of Novaliches at the bridge of Alcolea. The queen fled to France, and Serrano, having entered Madrid, formed a Provisional Government, convoked the Cortes Constituyentes in February 1869, and was appointed successively president of the executive and regent. He acted very impartially as a ruler, respecting the liberty of action of the Cortes and cabinets. and bowing to their selection of. Amadeus of Savoy, though he would have preferred Montpensier. As soon as Amadeus reached Madrid, after the death of Prim, Serrano consented to form a coalition cabinet, but it kept together only a few months. Serrano resigned, and took the command of the Italian king's army against the Carlists in North Spain. He tried to form one more cabinet under King Amadeus, but again resigned when that monarch declined to give his ministers dictatorial powers and sent.for Ruiz Zorilla, whose mistakes led to the abdication of Amadeus on the 11th of February 1873. Serrano would have nothing to do with the federal republic, and even conspired with other generals and politicians to overthrow it on the 23rd of April 1873; but having failed, he had to go to France until General Pavia, on the eve of his coup d'état of the 3rd of January 1874, sent for him to takethe head of affairs. Serrano assumed once more the title of president of the executive; tried first a coalition cabinet, in which @rtos and Sagasta soon quarrelled, then formed a cabinet presided over by Sagasta, which, however, proved unable to cope with the military and political agitation that brought about the restoration of the Bourbons by another pronunciamiento at the end of December 1874. During the eleven months he remained in office Serrano devoted his attention chiefly to the reorganization of finance, the renewal of relations with American and European powers, and the suppression of revolt. After the Restoration, Serrano spent some time in France, returned to Madrid in 1876, attended palace receptions, took his seat as a marshal in the senate, coquetted a little with Sagasta in 1881, and finally gave his open support to the formation of a dynastic Left with a democratic programme defended by his own nephew, General Lopez Dominguez. He died in Madrid on the 26th of November 1885, twenty-four hours after Alphonso XII. (A. E. H.)
SERRES, OLIVIA (1772-1834), an English impostor, who
claimed the title of Princess Olive of Cumberland, was born at
Warwick on the 3rd of April 1772. She was the daughter of
Robert Wilmot, a house-painter in that town, who subsequently
moved to London. In 1791 she married her drawing-master,
John Thomas Serres (17 59-1 82 5), marine painter to George III.,
but in 1804 separated from him. She then devoted herself to
painting and literature, producing a novel, some poems and a
memoir of her uncle, the Rev. Dr Wilmot, in which she
endeavoured to prove that he was the author of the Letters of
Junius. In 1817, in a petition to George III., she put forward
a claim to be the natural daughter of Henry Frederick, duke of
Cumberland, the king's brother, and in 182O, after the death of
George III., claimed to be the duke's legitimate daughter.
In a memorial to George IV. she assumed the title of Princess
Olive of Cumberland, placed the royal arms on her carriage and
dressed her servants in the royal liveries. Her story represented
that her mother was the issue of a secret marriage between
Dr Wilmot and the princess Poniatowski, sister of Stanislaus,
king of Poland, and that she had married the duke of Cumberland
in 1767 at the London house of a nobleman. She herself, ten
days after her birth, was, she alleged, taken from her mother,
and substituted for the still-born child of Robert Wilmot.
Mrs Serres's claim was supported by documents, and she bore
sufficient resemblance to her alleged father to be able to impose
on the numerous class of persons to whom any item of so-called
secret history is attractive. In 182 3 Sir Robert Peel, then Home
Secretary, speaking in parliament, declared her claims unfounded,
and her husband, who had never given her pretensions any
support, expressly denied his belief in them in his will. Mrs
Serres died on the 21st of November 18 54, leaving two daughters.
The eldest, who married Antony Ryves, a portrait painter,
upheld her mother's claims and styled herself Princess Lavinia
of Cumberland. In 1866 she took her case into court, producing
all the docu ments on which her mother had relied, but the jury,
without waiting to hear the conclusion of the reply for the crown,
unanimously declared the signatures to be forgeries. Mrs Serres's
pretensions were probably the result of an absurd vanity.
Between 1807 and 181 5 she had managed to make the acquaintance
of some members of the Royal family, 'and from this time
onwards seems to have been obsessed with the idea of raising
herelf, at all costs, to their social level. The tale once invented,
she brooded so continuously over it that she probably ended by
believing it herself.
See W. J. Thoms, Hannah Lightfoot, and Dr Wilmofs Polish Princess (London, 1867); Princess of Cumbeflandlv Statement to the English Nation; Annual Register (1866), Case of Ryves v. the Attorney-General.
SERTORIUS, QUINTUS, Roman statesman and general, was a native of Nursia in Sabine territory. After acquiring some reputation in Rome as a jurist and orator, be entered upon a military career. He served under Marius in 1oz B..C.. at the great battle of Aquae Sextiae (mod. Aix) in which the Teutones were decisively defeated. In 97 he was serving in Spain. In 91 he was quaestor in Cisalpine Gaul, and on his return to Rome he would have been elected to the tribune ship but for the decided opposition of Sulla. He now declared for Marius and the democratic party, though of Marius himself as a man he had the worst opinion. He must have been a consenting party to the hideous massacres of Marius and Cinna in 87, though he seems to have done what he could to mitigate their horrors. On Sulla's return from the East in»83, Sertorius Went to Spain, where he represented the Marian or democratic party, but without receiving any definite commission or appointment. Having been
