Teodoro Benigno Ignacio de Arana y Beláusteguiall given names were Teodoro Benigno Ignacio, see the birth certificate, available at the official Senado website here. The spelling of his segundo apellido differs slightly in various sources. The official Senate and the official Congreso de los Diputados websites prefer "Belaustegui"; this is also the spelling which prevailed in the press during his political career and the spelling in his birth certificate. However, some press titles used the "Belaústegui" spelling, see e.g. El Imparcial 13.11.16, available here; this version is present also in some scholarly works, compare e.g. Santiago de la Hoz, F. Javier Montón, J. Antonio Pérez, Rafael Ruzafa, Características y evolución de las élites en el País Vasco (1898-1923), [in:] Historia Contemporánea 8 (1992), p. 132, and in some official documents, see e.g. bank statements published on the Senado website, available here. His 1921 book, Fraternidad Vasco-Historica, used the "Beláustegui" spelling. In the early 1930s the periodical he seemed closely related to also spelled "Beláustegui", see El Cruzado Español 15.08.30, available here. This version is adopted here on assumption that having been the author of the book and having been on good terms with the Cruzado editors, he ensured his name was spelled the way he deemed proper (1858–1945) was a Spanish Carlist politician. His career climaxed during last decades of the Restoration period: in 1903 he was elected to Congreso de los Diputados, the lower chamber of the Cortes, and in 1905, 1916 and 1918 he was voted into the Senate. In two separate spells of 1915–1919 and 1923–1932, Arana served as leader of the Biscay branch of Carlism. He was also known as a vehement advocate of separate legal establishments for the Basque provinces, as the author of a related pamphlet and as a promoter of Basque culture. He was the first person in Spain to send a telegram in Basque.
Family and youth
The surname of Arana has been recorded already in the Medieval period, but ancestors of Teodoro can be traced back only to the early 18th century; his great-great-grandfather, born in 1703, was the native of the Biscay town of Arteaga.Juan de Arana entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here Also his descendants lived in north-eastern part of the province, in the Oca basin; the grandfather of Teodoro, Manuel de Arana Gandarías (born 1770),Manuel de Arana y Gandarías entry, [in:] Geni genealogical service, available here was related to Arrazua, though sources note him also in relation to Ajanguir and Marquina;he was married to Clara de Torrezuri Obieta, the paternal grandmother of Teodoro, see his birth certificate, available at the official Senado website here it is not clear what he was doing for a living. At some point he moved to Guernica, another town at the banks of the Oca, and this is where the father of Teodoro, José Ignacio de Arana Torrezuri, was born.Conde de Arana (pontificio), [in:] Titulos Nobiliarios Pontificios service, available here He became a lawyer and in some sources is referred to as "reputado jurisconsulto";Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here he worked as Registrador de la Propiedad and retired in 1870.La Correspondencia de España 30.05.70, available here
At unspecified time, probably in the mid-19th century, Arana Torrezuri married María Dolores de Beláustegui Arriaga from Busturia, also a town at the Oca banks.her parents (and maternal grandparents of Teodoro) were Juan de Belaustegui Foruria (from Busturia) and María Antonia de Arriaga Larragan (from Rigoitia), see his birth certificate, available at the official Senado website here The couple lived in Guernica; they had at least 4 children, born from mid- till the late 1850s. Teodoro was born either as the youngest or as the second youngest one.Joaquín was born in 1854, Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here. Víctor was born in 1857, Aldamizgogeascoa entry, [in:] Euskalnet service, available here . The birth year of Anselmo unclear; he died in 1928, Gaceta de Madrid 16.02.28, available here None of the sources consulted provides any information on his childhood and early youth, except that the boys received "sólida educación cristiana".Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here In 1876-1877 he was frequenting Instituto Vizcaino in Bilbao,Memoria sobre el estado del Instituto Vizcaino, Bilbao 1877, p. 22, available here but in 1877 – somewhat late compared to standard age - he obtained bachillerato and Titulo de perito mercantil in Instituto Provincial in Santander.Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Santander 17.12.77, available here It is not clear where he studied law;he was later referred to as "abogado" and as such is acknowledged also in historiography, compare Arana Belaustegui, Teodoro entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here both his brothers pursued their academic career in Valladolid.for Joaquín see Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here, for Víctor see Lista de licenciados, [in:] RaicesReinoValencia service, available here It is neither clear when he graduated and when he commenced his law career. The first information identified is from 1887, when Teodoro was nominated juzgado de primera instancia in Guadix; however, he resigned this positionGaceta de Madrid 19.10.87, available here and in 1890 latest was noted as engaged in law practice in Guernica.El Noticiero Bilbaino 13.08.90, available here
In 1889Cruz Dolores Niceta Larrainaga Luzarraga entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Arana married Cruz Dolores Niceta Larrinaga y Luzárraga (died 1944).ABC 09.04.44, available here Though she was born in Mundaca, a town in the Oca estuary, since the 1860s her parents were related to Liverpool. Her father, Ramón de Larrinaga, was co-founder and co-owner of Olano, Larrinaga & Co., a shipping company which operated a number of merchant vessels; they served mostly at long-distance routes, including the Philippines.Kristy Hooper, The Larrinaga Family: From Mundaka to Liverpool, [in:] Imperial Entanglement service 17.05.18, available here The marriage elevated Arana to high-bourgeoisie and dramatically changed his financial position; in Guernica the couple built an imposing palace-like family residence, named Nere Kabia.see Nere Kabia Kalea in a leaflet on Guernica streets, available here They had 5 children:ABC 09.04.44, available here Ramón,he married Josefa Erezuma Cunnius and commenced the Arana Erezuma line, El Debate 09.01.34, available here Soledad,she commenced the Ugarte Arana line Teodoro,he married Ana Sainz de Rosas Marañón and commenced the Arana Sainz de Rosas line, Genealogía Familia Ildefonso Lavín y enterramientos, available here Margaritashe commenced the Eugui Arana line, ABC 09.04.44, available here and Ricardo de Arana Larrinaga;he commenced the Arana Abasolo line, Cruz Dolores Niceta Larrainaga Luzarraga entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here none of them became a public figure. The best-known Arana's relative was his older brother Joaquín, who before his premature deathhe died in 1907, La Cruz 19.01.07, available here in 1896-1898 served as a Carlist deputy to the Cortes.Arana y Belaustegui, Joaquín María de entry, [in:] Congreso de los Diputados website, available here More distant relatives made their name in Argentina.the Aranas from Guernica arrived in Buenos Aires in the 1770s, Elsa Caula, Pautas matrimoniales en la política familiar de ascenso social de la casa de comercio de Beláustegui en Buenos Aires entre finales del siglo XVIII y comienzos del siglo XIX [paper delivered at Jornadas Interescuelas in Tucumán, 2007], p. 12, available here
Ascendance to Cortes (before 1905)
There is no information available on political preferences of more distant Arana's ancestors; his father was of Traditionalist inclinations and in the 1860s all family members – including the 7-year-old Teodoro – were listed in a Carlist periodical as donating money to religious cause.El Pensamiento Español 08.09.65, available here In 1873 his older brother Joaquín as a 19-year-old volunteered to legitimist troops,Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here but there is no information that Teodoro – in his late teens during last years of the Third Carlist War – followed suit.Joaquín "dejó voluntariamente los libros por la espada" and at the age of 19 he joined the Carlist troops, Biblioteca Popular Carlista XI (1896), available here In 1885 he was noted as a signatory of open letters, published in the press in support of the then top Carlist theorist, Ramón Nocedal,El Siglo Futuro 23.05.85, available here but he did not follow the Nocedalistas during the 1888 breakup. In the late 1880s and early 1890s he was noted merely as engaged in organizing local Catholic festivities in GuernicaRevista de Vizcaya 15.03.88, available here or as a lawyer.Diario de Burgos 14.02.93, available here. In the early 1890s he was involved in legal proceedings in Liverpool, possibly related to his in-laws, Arana, Teodoro de entry, [in:] Fondo Documental Miguel Delibes, available here In the mid-1890s Teodoro supported his brother Joaquín in the latter's bid for the Cortes mandate from the Gipuzkoan district of Azpeitia;in 1896 he co-organised a banquet in Circulo Carlista in Guernica to honor his brother, El Correo Español 04.05.96, available here the 1896 success was particularly cheered by the claimant Carlos VII, as Joaquín Arana defeated the detested rebel leader, Nocedal.Javier Estevé Martí, La política entiliberal en España bajo el signo del nacionalismo: el padre Corbató y Polo y Peyrolón [PhD thesis Universidad de Valencia], Valencia 2017, p. 316
Teodoro Arana commenced his political career somewhat late, when he was already in his early 40s. In 1901 he was supposed to replace his brother and stand in Azpeitia as the Carlist candidate to the Cortes.La Libertad 11.05.01, available here Though officially approved by the party executiveEl Correo Español 10.05.01, available here he eventually withdrew.Arana Belaustegui, Teodoro entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia, available here The reasons remain unclear; in Azpeitia the mandate was seized by an Integrist candidate, Antonio Aldama y Mendívil.Aldama y Mendevil, Antonio de entry, [in:] Congreso de los Diputados service, available here Arana resumed his bid in 1903, again in Azpeitia and again as a Carlist candidate. Like his brother 7 years earlier, he competed against Ramón Nocedal. With 3628 votes gatheredArana y Belaustegui, Teodoro de entry, [in:] Congreso de los Diputados service, available here he trashed the Integrist leader, who gained merely 134 votes; the claimant was delighted to see the chief rebel humiliated.Gipuzkoa. Historia. Edad Contemporánea entry, [in:] Auñamendi Eusko Entzkilopedia service, available here; in 1896 Joaquín Arana got 3104 vs 2899 votes of Nocedal