Juan José Palomino Jiménez (1895-1977) was a Spanish entrepreneur and politician. In business he is known mostly as co-owner and manager of Palomino & Vergara, a sherry brand popular in Spain and beyond between the 1930s and the 1960s; he also contributed to development of the xérès winegrowing business. Politically he supported the Traditionalist cause. In 1932 he was involved in Sanjurjada, a coup intended to topple the Republican government. In 1933–1936 he served as a Carlist deputy to the Cortes, while in 1968–1971 he was president of Junta Suprema Tradicionalista, the top Carlist executive structure.
Family and youth
Most authors when referring distant Palomino past point to a half-mythical knight Fernán Yáñez Palomino, who originated either from Cantabriasee e.g. Palomino entry, [in:] Bisabuelos service, available here, or Karen MacNeil, The Wine Bible, New York 2015, , p. 458 or Navarre.Palomino entry, [in:] HeraldryInstitute service, available here He made his name during Reconquista,Palomino wine entry, [in:] WineSearcher service, available here distinguished himself in service of Alfonso X and settled in the area of Jerez de la Frontera in the 13th century.Becky Sue Epstein, Strong, Sweet and Dry: A Guide to Vermouth, Port, Sherry, Madeira and Marsala, London 2019, , p. 312. Some sources claim the Palominos might have been growing wine since the 10th century, referred after Julian Jeffs, Sherry, London 2019, , p. 48 A frequently repeated account holds that the Palominos have been since then busy with "cultivo del viñedo y crianza de vinos"Francisco Quirós Linares, Estudios de geografía histórica e historia de la geografía: obra escogida, Oviedo 2006, , p. 350 in the region, though documents confirm this starting the year of 1483.Jeffs 2019, p. 27 During the following four centuries the family got very branched and scattered throughout not only the province of Cádiz, but also across most of Western Andalusia.
None of the sources consulted provides information on what particular branch the ancestors of Juan José belonged to, apart that they have emerged as large landowners in Campiña de Jerez and continued to grow wine. Close to nothing is known about the paternal grandfather, Pedro Palomino, apart that probably in the early 19th century he married Margarita López"Pedro Palomino" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here and kept developing the family wine business. Their son and the father of Juan José, Francisco Palomino López,"Francisco Palomino López" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. Information is not confirmed as it comes from a single source. Local press reported death of a “Francisco Palomino y López” in 1885, El Guadalete 04.10.89, available here at unspecified time married María del Rosario Jiménez García"María del Rosario Jiménez García" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here (died after 1933);in 1934 she was in very bad health, El Guadalete 21.04.34, available here there is no closer information available either on her on her family.she was daughter to Antonio Jiménez and María García, "María del Rosario Jiménez García" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Accessible data on the couple is confusingin 1891 a religious service was held in Jerez for the souls of defunct Francisco Palomino Lopez and Rosario Jimenez, El Guadalete 01.10.91, available here. Given Rosario is elsewhere reported to live at least until 1933, the information is unclear and subject to doubt.one and the same source claims that their daughter was born in 1862, but that her brother was born 34 year later, in 1896, "María del Rosario Jiménez García" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here
Nothing is known on childhood and education of Juan José. He was born in a coastal town of El Puerto de Santa María,"Juan José Palomino Jimenez" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here but it is not clear whether he frequented schools there or in Jerez de la Frontera, where the family moved some time in the late 19th century.Quirós Linares 2006, p. 350 It is possible if not likely that he received schooling in the Marianist college, operational in Jerez; later on Palomino was very active in Los Luises, a congregation ran by the order.El Guadalete 23.01.17, available here It is neither known whether and if yes where he pursued an academic career. A typical path for a young man from a well-off family would have been studying law, most likely in Seville, but there is no confirmation of Palomino graduating either in the early 1920s or at any other time.
At unspecified time but prior to 1927in 1927 Palomino as a witness attended the wedding of her sister, El Guadalete 01.07.27, available here Palomino married Isabel Vergara Sanchiz (1895-1977),"Isabel Vergara Sanchiz" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here a girl from Jerez and descendant to another wealthy winegrower family.she was daughter to Juan Mateo Vergara Quesada (1862-?) and Manuela Sanchiz Quesada (1867-?), both born and probably resident in Jerez de la Frontera, "Juan Mateo Vergara Quesada" entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here It is possible that the marriage was part of a wider agreement, as at the time the two houses merged to create a joint Palomino & Vergara company. However, information related is confusing; some sources suggest that the Palominos and the Vergaras might have been running a joint business since the lateEspaña Productora y Comercial 10.09.35, available here or even early 19th century.Antonio Mariscal Trujillo, Mudo testigo, [in:] Diario de Jerez 13.09.2000 The couple lived on family estate in Jerez de la Frontera and either owned or co-owned with other relatives the wine economy inherited. There is no information on their children and it appears that they were childless.no source mentions any of his children. His death notice lists a number of relatives, but not any descendants, compare Don Juan J. Palomino Jiménez, [in:] Palomino & Vergara FB account 28.12.16, available here None of Palomino's relatives became a public figure.there was no family relationship between Juan José Palomino Jiménez and Ángel Palomino Jiménez, a writer popular in the late 20th century
Early public engagements (before 1932)
Little is known about political preferences of Palomino's ancestors; some information suggest they were related to Integrism. In the 1880s his father appeared in El Siglo Futuro as co-signatory of letters, protesting alleged mistreatment of the Catholics.El Siglo Futuro 14.02.82, available here The family of Palomino's in-laws, the Vergaras, were distantly related to the Nocedal family;José María Nocedal y Mayo married Maria Rufina Vergara Gordon; exact relationship of José María Nocedal to the Integrist leader Ramón Nocedal is not clear the Nocedals, the Vergaras and the Palominos maintained family relations.El Guadalete 02.08.32, available here However, there is no confirmed information of either the Palominos or the Vergaras as active in the movement. It is known that Juan José received a “sólida formación tradicionalista”Jesús Evaristo Casariego, La verdad del Tradicionalismo: aportaciones españoles a la realidad de Europa, Madrid 1940, p. 137 and was very religious, when possible attending the mass every morning.Diario de Burgos 23.10.43, available here In the late 1910s and the early 1920s he was very active in Congregación Marianista de San Luis Gonzaga,El Guadalete 23.01.17, available here a Catholic charity and educational institution. In 1919 he was noted in labors to contain the Spanish Flu pandemicEl Guadalete 29.01.19, available here and in 1920 he grew to membership in provincial executive of the organisation.El Guadalete 10.06.20, available here
There is nothing known of Palomino's public activity in the early and mid-1920s, the final years of liberal Restoration regime and most of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship. It is not known whether he joined the primoderiverista organizations, especially Unión Patriótica and Somatén. However, he was on at least correct terms with the local regime administration, as at unspecified time and in early 1928 latest he was nominated to the Jerez de la Frontera town hall, at the time its members not elected, but appointed by the provincial administration. As councilor he entered two committees: this of policia rural and this of instrucción pública, asuntos jurídicos y cárcel.El Guadalete 10.11.28, available here His membership in ayuntamiento was confirmed in the last voting of the monarchy; the local elections of April 1931, which ultimately brought about the fall of the monarchy, secured Palomino's renewed term in the town hall.El Guadalete 14.04.31, available here. Few months later but already under the Republican administration, in October 1931, Palomino received another official appointment; he member of Comité Paritario de Dependencias y Oficiales of Jerez de la Frontera, a labor arbitration committee. Palomino too his seat from the "vocales propietarios efectivos" pool, El Guadalete 30.10.31, available here
Information on Palomino's political preferences of the very early 1930s is inconclusive. In October 1930 he was active in Partido Católico Nacional, an Integrist organisation created after the fall of Primo; Palomino entered the local Junta Directiva and became its secretary, apparently on excellent terms with the party leader in Western Andalusia, Manuel Fal Conde.El Guadalete 14.10.30, available here However, in the local elections of 1931 he ran as "gremialista" against the republican-socialist coalitionEl Guadalete 30.04.31, available here and the following year he was still counted within "minoría gremial".El Guadalete 06.07.32, available here During the first Republican electoral campaign of June 1931 he co-financed the Jerez branch of Acción Nacional, a broad conservative alliance “dominated by an energetic group of middle-class Integrists”.Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931–1939, Cambridge 2008, , pp. 52–53 In the summer he co-signed a manifesto, which declared setting up of a “partido político católico” within the general “tradicionalismo-integrista” current.others founders were Manuel Fal Conde, Gabriel Matute, Javier Vergara, Lucio Bascuñana, Jesús Merello, Juan Cervera, Fernando Quiñones and Francisco Contreras y Víctor Cano, Manuel Ignacio Rey Soto, La derecha gaditana en la Segunda República (1931-1936) [MA thesis Universidad de Cadiz], Cadiz 2018, p. 80 In August he co-founded a local Jerez right-wing alliance Unión de Derechas Independientes and entered its ruling junta;El Guadalete 01.08.31, available here in early 1932 as member of Juventud of Derechas Independientes he invited José Antonio Primo de Rivera to Jerez and entertained him during a banquet.El Guadalate 01.03.32, available here Also in early 1932 he took part in a joint rightist conference in Jerez, attended by one of the Carlist national leaders Conde de Rodezno.El Guadalete 07.01.32, available here
Sanjurjada and its aftermath (1932–1933)