TRAVELS

OF
JOSE RIZAL
 London, United Kingdom (May 1888 – March 1889)
Reasons why he chose London
• improve his knowledge in English
• study and annotate Morga’s Sucesos in the British
Museum
• London is a safe place to carry his fight against the
Spaniards
• stayed and boarded with the Beckett family – near the
British Museum
• got acquainted with the librarian Dr. Reinhold Rost
• did research in the British Museum poring over the pages of
Mexican Spanish Antonio de Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas
de Filipinas (1601) and other rare historical work on the
Philippines.
• received bad news from home – Calamba agrarian
problem
• romantic interlude with Gertrude Beckett.
 Paris, France (March 1889 – January 1890)

• briefly lived in the house of Valentin Ventura

• spent time in Bibliotheque Nationale ,checking up his
annotation of Morga’s Sucesos.
• spent time at the homes of the Pardo de Tavera and
Boustead family
• perfected his French language
• had fencing lessons at the studio of Juan Luna – fencing
practice with Antonio and Juan Luna, Valentin Ventura and
Boustead sisters.
 Paris, France (March 1889 – January 1890)

• organized the Kidlat Club and Indios Bravos

• published his annotated Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas
• had a romantic affair with Nelly and Adelina Boustead
• brief visit to London – compare his published Sucesos and
visit Gertrude Beckett for the last time.
Jose Rizal and Friends in Juan Luna's apartment,1889, Paris, France
Jose Rizal with Juan Luna's family and Filipino friends who visited France to see the
Universal Exposition of Paris in 1889.
Baptism of Andres de Luna at the Luna House in Paris: (L-R) – An unidentified friend,
Jose Rizal, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Nellie Boustead, Paz Pardo de Tavera, wife of
Juan Luna, Julian Gorricho de Tavera, mother-in-law of Juan Luna holding little Andres
de Luna, only son of Juan Luna, next to her is Nellie Boustead’s mother.
Ordinary Filipino expatriates drinking spree: (L-R) Jose Rizal, Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo, Trinidad H. Pardo de
Tavera and Juan Luna, standing man presumed as the waiter serving them.
Paris (1886)
Filipino costume party in Europe: (L-R) – Jose Rizal wearing a turban, Juan Luna’s wife Paz
Pardo de Tavera, Nellie Bousted, with her mother (seating), Felix Resurreccion Hidalgo and
another Boustead sister.
 Brussels, Belgium (Jan – July 1890)
Reasons why Rizal left Paris
• cost of living in Paris very high
• distracting social life -writing his Fili
• boarded in a boarding house run by the Jacoby
sisters
• worked part time in a medical clinic
• received letter from home that his family was evicted
from Calamba
• decided to go home to the Philippines but changed
decision : had to go to Madrid to appeal to the
Spanish Supreme Court of the agrarian trouble.
• hired Marcelo H. del Pilar as his lawyer (UST law grad)
• romantic affair with Suzanne Jacoby for a short while
but he left
 Madrid, Spain (Aug.1890 – May 1891)
• sought legal actions to the injustices committed by Gov.
Gen. Valeriano Weyler and the Dominicans against the
Calamba folks, including his family
• wrote a eulogy to his late friend Jose Ma. Panganiban
• challenged Antonio Luna to a duel (about Nelly
Boustead)
• challenged Wenceslao Retana to a duel
• received a letter from Leonor Rivera informing him of her
marriage to Kipping
• quit the Propaganda Movement – Propagandists divided
• short visit to Biarritz where he proposed marriage to
Adelina Boustead – she declined the proposal.
• wrote a letter to Jose Maria Basa that he will be living in
Hongkong.
Antonio Luna’s Letter to Rizal
• “With respect to Nelly, frankly, I think there is
nothing between us more than one of those
friendships enlivened by being fellow countrymen.
It seems to me that there is nothing more. My word
of honor. I had been her fiancé, we wrote to each
other. I like her because I knew how worthy she
was, but circumstances beyond our control made
all that happiness one cherished evaporate. She is
good; she is naturally endowed with qualities
admirable in a young woman and I believe that she
will bring happiness not only to you but to any
other man who is worthy of her…I congratulate
you as one congratulates a friend.
Congratulatons!”(as quoted by Zaide, pp. 184-185)
 Ghent, Belgium (May - October 1891)

• El Filibusterismo was printed

• Dedicated to the GomBurZa
• He almost burned the Manuscript because of the Lack
of funds
• The Savior of the El Fili- Valentin Ventura
Reasons why Rizal had to leave Europe
• life became unbearable – political difference with
Marcelo del Pilar and other Filipinos
• to lead the Propaganda Movement in Hongkong
• to be near the Philippines and his family
• took the steamer SS Melbourne from Marseilles to
Hongkong
 HONGKONG (Nov.1891 – June 1892)

• welcomed by Jose Ma Basa and other Filipino

residents
• reunited with his parents, brothers and sisters
• worked as an ophthalmic surgeon and medical
practitioner – for income
• operated on his mother’s eyes for the second time
• proposed for the establishment of a North Borneo
Colonization project – for the evicted folk of Calamba
• Valeriano Weyler was replaced by Eulogio Despujol
 Reasons why Rizal had to go to Manila
• confer with Gov.Gen. Despujol of the North Borneo
Colonization project
• establish the La Liga Filipina
• confront Eduardo de Lete – that he did not abandon
the cause of the Filipinos
• wrote Despujol informing the governor general that he
be in Manila – asked for protection of the Spanish
government
• left for the Philippines with sister Lucia