Born in Lisbon in 1870, he was the son of engineer Ricardo Júlio Ferraz and his wife Catherine Prescott Hickling Ivens. He had five brothers and one sister; three of his brothers also went into the military. He was educated at the Royal Military College from 1883 to 1888. He then attended the Escola Politécnica in Lisbon and the School of the Army, where he completed the Artillery course with a high mark in 1893.
Military career
In 1900, he completed the Army Staff course with distinction. While still a lieutenant, he headed the Portuguese mission that witnessed the British army manoeuvres in 1904. Between 1904 and 1918, he was a professor at the School of the Army, where he taught artillery tactics. He also taught English at the Military College from 1905 to 1913. In the First World War, Ivens Ferraz was appointed chief liaison officer of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps with the British army in France in 1917. Previously, he headed a military mission to the War Office at the outbreak of the war and held other senior positions in the CEP. According to British sources, he had perfect English and even looked like an Englishman. From 1919 to 1922 he was military attaché in London. Between 1924 and 1926 he served as head of the office of the High Commissioner of Mozambique, Victor Hugo de Azevedo Coutinho, and from May to November 1926 as acting High Commissioner and Governor-General.
Government
During the Military Dictatorship, in the government led by General Carmona, he served as Minister of Commerce and Communications, Minister of the Colonies and interim Minister of Finance. In this latter capacity, he went to Geneva to negotiate a large foreign loan under the auspices of the League of Nations, but ultimately rejected the conditions attached to it, considered offensive to national sovereignty. On his return to Lisbon, he was received in triumph. Promoted to General in 1928, Ivens Ferraz was appointed Prime Minister by then President Carmona on 8 July 1929, holding office until 21 January 1930. He also temporarily took over the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Administration and Education. A conservative republican, he favoured a return to constitutional normality, although not immediate. His differences over the future of the regime with the Finance Minister, Salazar, who defended an authoritarian model, eventually led to the fall of the government. After leaving office, he returned to his previous post as General Administrator of the Army and, in 1931, was appointed, a position he held until his death in 1933. His memoirs of six months as head of government were published posthumously.
