Agustín Cándido Tellería Mendizábal (March 1884 – 24 March 1939) was a Spanish Basque politician and entrepreneur. Politically he supported the Traditionalist cause, mostly as a Carlist and for some time as a Mellista; since 1933 he was a member of the party provincial executive in Gipuzkoa. He is known chiefly as one of key people behind the anti-Republican conspiracy in the vasco-navarrese area in the spring of 1936; thanks to his position of a businessman and army supplier, he procured arms and munitions for the rebels. In 1937 he was for 5 months the provincial Gipuzkoan leader of the Francoist state party, the FET y de las JONS, but was shortly ousted as a zealous Carlist, non-compliant with the official regime ideology.
Family and youth
The Basque family of Tellería was first noted in the Gipuzkoan county of Vergara in the 16th centuryTellería entry, [in:] Heraldry Institute service, available here and parish documents confirm their presence in the town of Antzuola since the early 18th century.the first Tellería noted in the parish documents appears in 1716, see Tellería/Antzuola baptism certificates, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here The first direct ancestor of Agustín which can be traced is his strictly paternal great-grandfather Silvestre Antonio Tellería Ugalde, married to Clara Ignacia Lascurain ArgarateManuel Ygnacio, Telleria, Lascurain entry, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here and living in Antzuola in the early 19th century. His son and Agustín's paternal grandfather, Miguel Ignacio Telleria Lascurain (born 1807),Partida de Bautismo de Miguel Ygnacio Tellería Lascurain, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here married Maria Oyarzabal Idiazabal.Partida de Bautismo de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here None of the sources consulted provides any information on what they did for a living; the couple settled in their native town and had at least 9 children, born between 1833 and 1854.the first one listed, Agapita María Tellería Oyarzabal, was born in 1833; the last one listed, Agustín Rufino Tellería Oyarzabal, was born 1854; see baptism certificates of Tellería Oyarzabal/Oiarzabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here Their third son and Agustín's father, Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal (1849–1938),Kepa Oliden Arrasate, Antzuola, un pueblo de zurradores, [in:] El Diario Vasco 31.03.13, available here in 1877 married Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel;Partida de Matrimonio de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal con Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here the couple had 2 children, both daughters.see baptism certificates of María Josefa Telleria Ynurrita (1878) and Juana María Telleria Ynurrita (1880), [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here Following early death of his wife in 1882,Partide de Defunción de Micaela Ynurrita Gorosabel, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here one year laterPartida de Matrimonio de Jose Cipriano Telleria Oyarzabal con Maria Esteban Mendizabal Elgarresta, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here Telleria Oyarzabal re-married with Maria Esteban Mendizábal ElgarrestaPartida de Bautismo de Agustin Cándido Tellería Mendizábal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here (died 1913),El Correo Español 23.08.13, available here a girl from the nearby village of Urretxu and descendant to a family which already had been related to the Tellerías.the Tellerias and the Mendizabals from Gabiria and Segura used to intermarry since the late 18th century, see baptism certificates for Telleria Mendizabal, [in:] Donostiako Elizbarrutiko Artxibo Historikoa service, available here
The couple formed part of the local bourgeoisie. Since the late 18th century Antzuola, though a fairly small town, was a provincial tanning centre. Tellería Oyarzabal owned one of 4 manufactures operational in the municipality and developed it into the most successful one, with branches in other Gipuzkoan locations;as part of their business the Tellerías operated also a tanning manufacture in Deba, a shoe factory in Bergara, and a trimmings workshop in Vitoria, Oliden Arrasate 2013 it produced belts, footwear, holsters, saddles and other leather goods, mostly for the army.Oliden Arrasate 2013 Agustín was born into considerable wealth; it is not clear whether apart from two half-sisters from the first marriage of his father he had any other siblings; sources do not mention any.parish documents indicate that in the 1880s there were 2 Tellería Mendizábal children born in the nearby village of Mutiloa, but it is not clear whether there was any relationship. No source has indicated Agustín Tellería Mendizabal had any siblings; notes from his funeral and press obituaries mention only his wife and children It is neither known where he commenced education, whether he attended secondary school and whether he entered a university. Because he was later referred to as "farmacéutico" and because his father was running a chemistry-related business, it is likely that Tellería received some sort of chemical education, completed probably in the early 1900s.for references to Tellería's pharmaceutical engagements see José Luis de la Granja Sainz, Nacionalismo y II República en el País Vasco: Estatutos de autonomía, partidos y elecciones. Historia de Acción Nacionalista Vasca, 1930-1936, Madrid 2009, , p. 429; Roberto Villa García, Las elecciones de 1933 en el País Vasco y Navarra, Madrid 2007, , p. 71
At unspecified time prior to 1913their son, José Tellería Legorburu, was born in 1913, see obituary of José Tellería Legorburu, [in:] Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Irinmodo blogs, 14.09.19, available here Tellería wed Maria Legorburu from the nearby GabiriaPensamiento Alaves 24.03.39, available here (died after 1959);ABC 16.09.59, available here close to nothing is known about her family, except that it was of distinguished noble past and that the families had already intermarried.the Tellerias and the Legorburu’s from Gabiria had intermarried in the early 19th century, see e.g. José Agustín Tellería Legorburu entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here The couple settled in Antzuola and had at least 10 children: Mercedes, Blanca, María Luisa, Vicente, Juan, José, José Joaquín, Agustín, Luis and Ignacio Tellería Legorburu.Pensamiento Alaves 24.03.39, available here Like one of his uncles,in the early 1920s one of his uncles, Agustín Tellería, was alcalde of Antzuola, Iñigo Ramirez de Okariz Tellería, Irinmodo blog, 08.11.14, available here José served as mayor of Antzuola; he was killed as requeté in 1937.Oliden Arrasate 2013 Juan and José Joaquín entered a religious order. The only one who became sort of a public figure was Ignacio, a well-recognized Madrid physician.Hoja Oficial de Lunes 04.08.69, available here, also ABC 26.01.82, available here Among Agustín's grandchildren the best known is the Tellería Chávarri branch.Ignacio Tellería Legorburu married Alicia Chávarri de la Mora, sister to a filmmaker and director Jaime Chavarri de le Mora, see e.g. Alicia Chávarri de la Mora entry, [in:] Geneanet genealogical service, available here Isabel as a child briefly became a movie star with her role in El espiritú de la colmena (1973), which turned out to have been her only film.Isabel Tellería entry, [in:] IMDB service, available here Her sister Alicia is a movie production manager,Alicia Telleria entry, [in:] IMDB service, available here while María is spokesperson for EU-related human-rights organizationsMaría Tellería Chavarri profile, [in:] LinkedIn service, available here and author.compare María Tellería Chavarri, Medios de comunicación al servicio del poder, Madrid 2005,
From Carlista to Mellista
The Tellería family was of Carlist political sympathies; Agustín's father served as officer in the legitimist ranks during the Third Carlist War, and also following defeat he remained a "modelo de perseverancia en el defensa de un ideal".Pensamiento Alaves 30.12.37, available here Agustín inherited the Traditionalist outlook.however, the Tellería family, branched as it was, favored various political options. In the summer of 1936, when Basques were taking sides either for and against the Republic, the Tellerías found themselves on both sides, see Juan Ramón Garaik, Josu Murgizu, 1936ko Gerra Bergaran, Bergara 2015 Together with the entire family in 1905 he co-signed a homage message, directed to the Pope Pius X and protesting alleged masonic manipulations in France.El Correo Español 25.10.05, available here In the mid-1900s he engaged in the Carlist youth organisation and over time grew to president of the Tolosa branch of Juventud Carlista; it is not clear why he was not active in his native Vergara arm of the structures. In 1908 he was already mingling with party executives in Gipuzkoa, e.g. he entered the committee headed by the provincial jefé Tirso de Olazabal and entrusted with organizing a grand regional Traditionalist rally in Zumarraga.La Bandera Ragional 18.07.08, available here Also in the early 1910s Tellería was noted in the press for various protests in defense of religion and aimed against perceived blasphemous initiatives and incidents.El Correo Español 30.03.11, available here
In the late 1910s Tellería was not recorded either in Traditionalist or religious organizations, and studies on Carlism of the era do not mention his name.a detailed work on Carlism of the early 20th century does not mention Tellería a single time, see Agustín Fernández Escudero, El marqués de Cerralbo (1845-1922): biografía politica [PhD thesis Complutense], Madrid 2012 At that time the movement was increasingly fragmented due to a conflict between the key theorist, Juan Vázquez de Mella, and the claimant Don Jaime. Most of the Gipuzkoan party leaders tended to side with the former, who advocated a grand ultra-right alliance with dynastic threads played down; Tellería followed the same path.however, he was not a major protagonist of the conflict. A detailed study on the Mellista breakup does not list him a single time, see Juan Ramón de Andrés Martín, El cisma mellista. Historia de una ambición política, Madrid 2000, When the crisis erupted during a showdown of early 1919, he joined the rebels – to be known as Mellistas – and broke away. In late 1919 he agreed to represent the emerging new grouping in the race to the Cortes, and was officially reported as standing in the election campaign from the district of San Sebastián.Heraldo de Madrid 25.05.19, available here, also El Sol 26.05.19, available here It is not clear whether he eventually withdrew or was defeated, as none of the press titles of the era provided details on the number of votes he could have gathered.