Francisco Maura was the brother of the engraver Bartolomé Maura and the politician Antonio Maura. He studied at the Higher School of Painting and Engraving in Madrid, where he specialised in portraits and landscapes. He travelled to Rome on a scholarship from the Provincial Council of the Balearic Islands and the State, presenting his works at various National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, including those of 1890 and 1892, where he was awarded the medal for second place. He also won some important prizes.

• María José Alonso
• Julián Gállego Serrano

Sánchez-Guerra Martínez was born in Córdoba and studied law in Madrid. He had an early career as a journalist, and became editor of the Revista de España and El Español. Between 1886 and 1933, he served as a member of parliament. For many years he was active in the Liberal Party, although by 1890 he had joined the right wing of the party, together with Germán Gamazo and Antonio Maura. He served three terms as Minister of the Interior: in December 1903, during the first government of Antonio Maura; in October 1913, in the conservative government of Eduardo Dato (a move that earned him the hostility of the Maurist faction, who thereafter always considered him a traitor); and in July 1917, in the new government of Eduardo Dato. In 1908 he was made Minister of Public Works in Maura's second government, and held the post until the government fell on 20 October 1909, as a result of what was known the 'Tragic Week' [Semana Trágica]. He became speaker of the Parliament between 1919 and 1922 and prime minister in 1922. He served two terms as governor of the Banco de España, from July to December 1903 and from January 1907 to September 1908.

José Sánchez Guerra was a firm believer in the achievements of the political system following the restoration of the monarchy and dedicated his entire political career to defending it. He believed in the parliamentary political regime as a liberal victory over absolutism and throughout his life he firmly defended the supremacy of parliament over the Crown. During the early years of Primo de Rivera's dictatorship, Sánchez Guerra harboured the hope that the king would remove the dictator. Faithful to his belief in a constitutional and parliamentary regime, he declared in an article published in ABC on 8 May 1925: 'I have been a monarchist all my life and am willing to die a monarchist. However, I wish to say that I have never been, nor am I, nor do I want to, nor can I, nor should I be a believer in absolute monarchy'. However, the September 1927 decree creating a corporate assembly to replace the liberal parliament dashed Sánchez-Guerra's hopes that the king would restore the constitutional monarchy, and he went into exile in Paris. During those years, he declared that he was a 'constitutional and parliamentary monarchist', who preferred 'a constitutional and parliamentary republic' to an 'absolute or dictatorial monarchy'. In January 1929 he led the failed revolutionary movement in Valencia that sought to end the dictatorship, for which he was imprisoned and court martialled, but subsequently acquitted. Despite its failure, the attempted coup was of great importance and precipitated the resignation of Primo de Rivera and the fall of the dictatorship in January 1930.

After the fall of General Berenguer's government in February 1931, Alfonso XIII entrusted him with forming government, a task he renounced over his disagreement with the monarch's imposition of certain appointments. On 14 April, the Republic was proclaimed and Sánchez-Guerra declared: 'I am a monarchist, but I consider that monarchies have passed into history. For this reason, I want the republic to be consolidated and take root, because over and above my monarchism, I am first and foremost a Spaniard'. Following an illness lasting several years, he died in Madrid in 1935. For his courageous defence of liberties, the Republican Parliament granted his daughters a lifetime annuity of 20,000 pesetas, a decision that was upheld by the Franco regime.

Elena Serrano García