José de la Torre Ugarte y Alarcón (19 March 1786 – 1 September 1831) was a Peruvian lawyer, poet, and independence figure, best known for writing the lyrics of the National Anthem of Peru.
Biography
He was the son of José Estanislao de la Torre Ugarte, a Spaniard who had served as Administrator General of Lotteries in the Viceroyalty of New Granada before settling in Ica, and Mercedes Alarcón Manrique, a native of that city. His father died in 1789, when Torre Ugarte was approximately four years old. After completing his school studies at a Jesuit institution that would later become the renowned Colegio San Luis Gonzaga, he enrolled at the National University of San Marcos, where he held the chair of Arts between 1809 and 1812, though his final qualification to practise law would remain pending for over a decade. He then sought and obtained authorization from the University of San Marcos to sit his pending law examination, which he passed before the Superior Court of Trujillo on 14 May 1825. He subsequently served as war auditor (1827–1829) and, by appointment of Agustín Gamarra, as member of the Superior Court of La Libertad (1830). Elected as a deputy, Torre Ugarte died before he could take up the position. His death certificate, preserved in the parish records of the Sagrario of Trujillo, records his death on 1 September 1831, identifying him as a member of the Superior Court of Justice, aged forty-five. Their submission was personally chosen by José de San Martín as Peru's national anthem, with its official premiere taking place on 24 September 1821 at the Teatro Principal in Lima. His remains were transferred to the Panteón de los Próceres in Lima on 28 July 1929, alongside those of Alcedo. The bill was passed by the Senate on 5 August 1911, approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 25 October 1912, and promulgated by President Guillermo Billinghurst on 26 February 1913. The law also nullified a 1901 decree that had approved replacement lyrics by poet José Santos Chocano, which had failed to gain popular acceptance. In 2005, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled to restore the fifth original strophe authored by Torre Ugarte, which had been omitted from official versions.