Jaime Chicharro Sánchez-Guió (1889–1934) was a Spanish Conservative and ánchezGuióCarlist politician. He is known mostly as the moving spirit behind turning a fishing bay in Burriana into a modern port, facilitating export of oranges grown in the area. As a politician he is recognized as representative of large proprietors within the Carlist movement.
Family and youth
Jaime Chicharro Sánchez-Guió was born to a family of Castilian landowners. His paternal ancestors originated from Vascongadas; his grandfather, Jesús Chicharro de la Torre, was a military engineer and settled in the province of Ciudad Real following railway construction works. Jaime's father, José Chicharro Martín del Moral (1856-1905), sided with the legitimists during the Third Carlist War. He married Soledad Sánchez-Guió Ruiz-Hidalgo (1860-1912). The couple had 4 children, apart from Jaime also three daughters, all raised in a fervently Catholic ambience.
In 1897 the young Jaime entered the Jesuit Colegio Nuestra Señora del Recuerdo in the Madrid district of Chamartín de la Rosa. Having completed secondary education he moved to Biscay commencing law studies in the Jesuit Deusto College. Following graduation he completed his education obtaining diploma in Philosophy and Letters from the Universidad Central (later Universidad Complutense) in Madrid. Holding two diplomas he settled in Madrid and assumed the chair of History in same Jesuit college he had attended earlier.
In 1912 Chicharro married Dolores Lamamié de Clairac Romero y Bermúdez de Castro (1890-1974), related to the Salamanca landowner and later a well-known Carlist politician, José María Lamamié de Clairac y de la Colina. As she inherited some 300 hectares around Villarreal and Nules, the family moved to the spouse's La Salmantina estate, now located in the municipality of Les Alqueries (Castellón province). The couple had 13 children, born between 1914 and 1932. During early months of the Civil War the oldest daughter was tortured and killed by the Republican militia in Madrid. Five sons volunteered to the Carlist Requeté; one of them died in 1939 due to tortures suffered as the Republican POW. Four sons joined División Azul; two of them died in combat in Russia, the two who survived grew to Francoist generals. His second youngest son served as a diplomat and subgobernador in the Spanish Equatorial Guinea. The youngest son became sort of celebrity as a wrestling champion in the 1950s. Some of Jaime's grandchildren became public figures and stirred political controversy as late as in 2013.
Young Carlist
Chicharro inherited his militant ultraconservative outlook after his father, who following the Carlist war service contributed belligerent pieces to the Carlist Ciudad Real based El Manchego weekly in the 1880s. The leaning was further reinforced when during his Madrid academic years Chicharro met and got fascinated by Juan Vázquez de Mella, the top Carlist theorist. In 1909 he co-founded the local Centro Tradicionalista and together with other young Carlists he set up El Combate, a review later renamed to Juventud Tradicionalista. Active in Catholic organizations, he started to appear on public meetings, like those confronting the idea of secular education. In 1911 he engaged in launching Congreso Eucaristico and later joined Junta Nacional de Propagandistas de Acción Católica. Also in 1911 Chicharro joined the Madrid Junta Católica, part of a national electoral effort engineered by the Church and intended to produce a grand Catholic political alliance. At that time he was already a Carlist activist recognized nationally.
When following his marriage Chicharro moved to Castellón province he remained in the same political ambience, becoming president of the local Juventud Jaimista and in 1915 growing to jefe of the Villareal Jaimistas. In 1916 he entered the Castellón Junta Provincial and became its vice-president, going on with his Villarreal jefatura duties. The same year for the first time he launched his bid for the Cortes standing in the Nules district. At that time Valencian Carlism was divided between the mainstream purs and the dissident paquistes, followers of Francisco Giner Lila; Chicharro seemed to have allied with none and unsuccessfully ran a broad conservative ticket, forming part of the contenders loyal to the Murcian party leader, Juan de la Cierva y Peñafiel.