Juan Lamamié de Clairac y Trespalacios | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the Congress of Deputies | |
| In office 15 November 1907 – 14 April 1910 | |
| Constituency | Salamanca |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 June 1831 |
| Died | 19 October 1919(1919-10-19) (aged 88) |
| Political party | Comunión Tradicionalista,Integrist Party |
| Children | José María Lamamié de Clairac y Colina and 7 more |
| Education | University of Salamanca |
| Occupation | Journalist and politician |
Juan Lamamié de Clairac y Trespalacios (24 June 1831 – 19 October 1919) was aSpanish journalist andtraditionalist politician.
He descended from a noble family of French origin residing in Spain since the beginning of the 18th century. His father José Lamamié de Clairac y Tirado had been a colonel at theRoyal Army and fought on the Northern campaign of theNapoleonic Wars underPedro Caro y Sureda. His mother Jacinta Trespalacios y Ceballos was the first Salamancan victim of the 1834 Spanishcholera epidemic and died when Juan was 3 years old.[1]
His father moved to Madrid and left him at Salamanca under his family guardianship, considering his infirm health and few expectations of survival were unfit for travelling. He lived with his aunt María Trespalacios and his uncle Manuel Mercado Dusmet, who had been aguerrilla fighter at theSpanish Independence War underJulián Sánchez. According toEl Siglo Futuro, his aunt and uncle had followed theCarlist ideology since Clairac was a boy and transmitted their religious and political zeal to him. He was fully entrusted to them after the early death of his father, when Clairac was 16 years old.[1]
He studied at theUniversity of Salamanca, obtaining a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1848, another in Jurisprudence in 1854 and later alicenciatura in 1856. He soon started his political activity and was elected a provincial deputy by theAlba de Tormes district in 1863.[1]
After theRevolution of 1868 he joined theCarlist army and during theSexenio Revolucionario he was designated assubcomisario regio of theSalamanca province by pretenderCarlos VII. He ran as a counter-revolutionary candidate for Salamanca at the1869 Spanish general election despite the opposition of the governor of the province, joining the formula of cardinalMiguel García Cuesta,Antonio Aparisi y Guijarro,León Carbonero y Sol,Gaspar Escudero andNicolás Gallego Sevillano. Cardinal García Cuesta would be the only Carlist candidate elected by Salamanca.[1]
Clairac collected signatures for an exposition at theSpanish Cortes asking for the conservation of theUnidad católica de España, following the indications of theAsociación de Católicos (Catholics' Association) presided by his uncle, themarquis of Viluma. He managed to rise 93000 signatures from 381 towns in Salamanca againstreligious freedom, a merit for which he was chosen as president of the provincial directory of the Association the 7th July 1869. Clairac was also the founder of the Salamancan Catholic Youth, in which the famous politicianEnrique Gil Robles started his career.[1]
In April 1870 he took part in theJunta católico-monárquica ofVevey called byDon Carlos after the desertion ofRamón Cabrera, acting as a representative of Salamanca.[1]
He was elected again a deputy in 1871 by the Salamanca district. The same year he was designated as president of the localJunta carlista de Armamento y Defensa (Carlist board of Arming and Defense) and was commissioned for one year to prepare the province for afuture uprising. TheCivil Guard imprisoned him in July 1872 along with other conspirers and sent him to thecárcel del Saladero at Madrid.[1]
His family obtained his release thanks to their contacts at the government, but Clairac refused to abandon the prison if his companions were not freed as well. After achieving the release of all of them he promised the governor of MadridFernando Sartorius Chacón to abandon the country and go into exile abroad.[1]
He took a ship atSantander and emigrated toBayonne. Along with his wife Isabel Bermúdez de Castro he kept financing the Carlist rebels and gave economic support to those who were banished to France. In 1874 he was indulted after the coronation ofAlfonso XII and could return to Spain. In 1876 he recovered his personal goods the government had seized. His wife would die the same year.[1] He married Petra Celestina de la Colina y Fernández Cavada in 1882,[2] with whom he had 8 children.[3]
He sided withRamón Nocedal andEl Siglo Futuro in the conflict withLa Fé that led to theIntegrist separation of the Carlist movement.[2] Clairac founded and financedLa Tesis andLa Tradición, two integrist newspapers co-edited withEnrique Gil Robles andManuel Sánchez Asensio. He joined theIntegrist Party in 1888.[4] He would later foundLa Región (1890–1892) andLa Información (1892–1897).[2] He was also director ofEl Salmantino.[5]
In 1901 he joined the Catholic Anti-Liberal League of Salamanca and campaigned intensely forJuan Antonio Sánchez del Campo, who would be elected a deputy by the Integrists in June of the same year.[2]
In 1905 he was chosen as regional head of the Integrist Party atLeón,[6] He started a general reorganization of the movement and set 75 provincialjuntas with whom he attended the party assembly of 1906 dressed intraditional attires.[2]
Clairac was particularly concerned with legitimizing the movement before theHoly See. In April 1894 he organized a pilgrimage of Spanish workers to Rome with the intention of showing the nation's support ofLeo XIII, and in 1904 he traveled to Rome representing theIntegrist Party among with other leaders who were received byPope Pius X. Before travelling Clairac had collected at his province a large number of telegrams and messages in support of the Pope.[7]
With the support ofJuan Antonio Sánchez del Campo andRamón Nocedal he took part in the1907 Spanish general election and was elected a deputy despite the opposition of the local bishop Francisco Javier Valdés y Noriega, who supported thelesser of two evils principle and rejectedIntegralism.[5] Two other Integrist candidates,Manuel Senante andJosé Sánchez Marco, were elected as well.[2]
He was made a member of the party directory by the Assembly ofZaragoza after Nocedal's death. In 1908 he travelled to Rome in representation of the party and offered Pope Pius X to dissolve the organization andEl Siglo Futuro if he considered it to be prejudicial for the situation of theCatholic Church in Spain.[2]
He renounced to his deputy re-election to avoid antagonising with the local bishop, despite the party was approved by the Holy See. He still did not abandon politics and supported IntegristMariano Arenillas Sáinz for his successful deputy candidacy, ending with the republican-socialist majority in the municipality.[2]
In spite of his old age, the Integrist Assembly of 1918 re-elected him as the party head of León. He supported the candidacy of his sonJosé María, who was not elected that time but would later become a deputy thrice during theSecond Spanish Republic.[3] Clairac died at Salamanca the following year.
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