Juan de la Puerta Canseco (León, 1827- Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1902)
As a First Higher Education teacher, he arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1849, where he was appointed to the Higher School of Primary Instruction for children, becoming a prominent pedagogical and intellectual influence in the lives of the Santacruceros who distinguished themselves at the turn of the 20th century; among them, Imeldo Serís, Marquis of Villasegura. In 1871, he was appointed Inspector of Education and Secretary of the Board of Public Instruction.
Due to a shortage of textbooks, he established and led El Instructor, a biweekly educational newspaper, in 1852, which was utilised by public primary schools throughout the capital. In 1860, he founded and directed El Auxiliar, another publication dedicated to primary education and the advocacy of the teaching profession.
In 1861, he published Compendium of the History of the Canary Islands, a work that was, by Royal Order on May 12, 1888, designated as a textbook for Primary Schools in the Canary Islands. This publication was honoured with a Silver Medal at the Regional Exhibition of Cádiz.
His work Geographic Description of the Canary Islands was recognised as a textbook in all Spanish educational institutions by Royal Order on September 1, 1889, marking the first occasion that this subject achieved national prominence. This work also received a Silver Medal at the Seville Exhibition of 1897.
In the aforementioned Royal Order, his books were deemed suitable for use in both Spanish and American primary schools: New legal system of measures, weights and coins (1852); Arithmetic Compendium (1868); and Commercial booklet (1870). His other notable publications included: An ascent to Pico de Teide; Reading Exercises; Poetic compositions, romances in eight songs; Santa Cruz de Tenerife Children’s School…
Puerta Canseco also contributed to magazines such as Friends of the Country from the Royal Society of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and The Illustration of the Canary Islands, where he published the décimas he composed for the inauguration festivities of the telegraph cable in 1883.
Don Juan de la Puerta Canseco was a member of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the Royal Economic Societies of Friends of the Country in Seville, Las Palmas, and La Laguna. He was honoured as an Adoptive Son of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, appointed Knight of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Carlos III, and was the inaugural president of the Instructional Cabinet of this city.
A street in Santa Cruz, linking Valentín Sanz Street with Weyler Square, commemorates his legacy and immortalises his name.
