Luis Argemí y de Martí (; 1873-1950) was a Spanish Catalan entrepreneur and politician. In business his primary focus was on chemicals and his company formed part of a cartel which controlled sections of the European dyes market; however, he was involved also in textile, hydro-electricity, finance, construction and publishing industry. In politics for decades he supported the Carlist cause, yet in the 1940s he put up with Francoism. In 1907-1918 he served in the Barcelona provincial diputation, in 1914-1918 in Mancomunitat, in 1918-1920 in the Senate, and in 1943-1946 again in diputación, this time as its president. In historiography he is known also as promoter and sponsor of Sindicatos Libres, a Catholic trade union which engaged in violent conflict with the Anarchist CNT.
Family and youth
The surname of Argemí appeared in Catalonia already in the early modern era,Apellido Argemi, [in:] Instituto de Historia Familiar service, available here yet there is close to nothing known about Luis's distant ancestors. In the mid-19th century one branch of the family counted among the local Manresa bourgeoisie; in the 1840s its representativesone was named Isidre Argemí Gneres, Fabrica Gallifa, [in:] Ajuntament de Sant Joan de Vilatorrada. Inventari de patrimoni cultural i natural, p. 59, available here were noted as stakeholders in the textile company Argemí, Gallifa i Companyia,El Reino 22.10.59, available here though in the 1860s they went separate way and set up their own business.Les cinc fàbriques del grup Gallifa, a Manresa, [in:] Enciclopedia.cat service, available here The Argemí Gali brothersnamed Ignacio, José and Luis. For Ignacio see e.g. Diario de Barcelona 10.08.95, available here, for Jose see e.g. Llorenç Ferrer Alòs, Els contractistes del tren d’Olvan a Guardiola, [in:] L'Erol 156-157 (2023), p. 34 and La Correspondencia de España 21.10.74, available here owned in Manresa a mid-size fiber and fabric factory,La Correspondencia de España 21.10.74, available here known as Pont Vell or Sant Pau;Argemí i de Martí, Lluís, [in:] Mancomunitat de Catalunya service, available here since 1875 they operated also a related hydro plant, powering their textile machinery and located at the banks of the Cardener river.Colleción Legislativa de España. Segundo semestre de 1874, Madrid 1875, p. 750 One of the brothers and the father of Luis, Luis Argemí Galí, practiced also as a lawyer, noted as "abogado, propietario y fabricante".La Vanguardia 28.11.81 None of the sources consulted provides any information on Luis' mother, María del Pilar Martí Miralles, except that she died in 1905;Diario de la Marina 09.08.05, available here the couple - living in Manresa - had a daughter, Mercedes Argemí de Martí. Mercedes married Jose Figueras Nogues. The couple had one son Santiago Figueras Argemí. Mercedes died soon after giving birth to her son due to birth related complications.
The adolescent Luis received his schooling mostly in the 1880s, during 8 years spent in the Piarist college in Barcelona, where he obtained the bachillerato.in a commemorative article he later recollected "la joya, durante ocho años guardada en el colegio, no era para este mundo", El Siglo Futuro 07.02.05, available here According to one source he studied in Ciudad Condal and pursued two paths, graduating in law and in filosofía y letras;Argemí i de Martí, Lluís, [in:] Mancomunitat de Catalunya service, available here another source is more specific and claims he was doctor in law, but merely licenciado in philosophy and letters.Solidaridad Nacional 07.01.50, p. 5, available here However, one more source claims he gained his laurels in derecho civil y canónico with sobresaliente marks in Salamanca in 1897.El Labaro 26.06.97, available here In 1899 he was briefly mentioned at minor official position as fiscal in Esplugas,Anuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración 1899, p. 1061, available here and in 1900 he was first recorded as a defense lawyer in Barcelona.La Dinastía 27.10.00, available here The official annual listed him as abogado in Manresa in 1903.Anuario-Riera: guia general de Catalunya 1903, p. 824, available here At that time Argemí was already managing Sant Pau, the plant he inherited from his father and uncles.Argemí i de Martí, Lluís, [in:] Mancomunitat de Catalunya service, available here
In 1901 Argemí married Nieves Albiñana Folch.Francisco García Daza, Patrocinadores y promotores de Los Sindicatos Libres: La compañía Albiñana, Argemí y la Asociación de Hoteleros de Barcelona, [in:] SerHistorico service 24.01.23, available here, for exact date see La Vanguardia 26.04.01 She was descendant to a few well-off Catalan bourgeoisie families. Her father, Frederic Albiñana Vila, in 1882 co-founded a Barcelona company which traded in grain; it was initially named Folch, Albiñana y Cía,Frederic married the sister of his business partner Joaquin Folch Solà, Joaquina Folch Sola, see Carlos García Pons, Business Longevity or the Business of Survival, [in:] The New Barcelona Post, available here but when it started distilling alcohol it got transformed into Fábrica de Alcoholes Industriales.for image see Exterior view of the industrial alcohols factory of Folch, Albiñana y Compañía, [in:] Alamy service, available here Luis and Nieves had 3 children, all of them daughters: María Luisa, María Nieves and María del Pilar Argemí Albiñana. The first girl died in 1908 as a four-year-old;Revista Ilustrada de Banca, Ferrocarriles, Industria y Seguros 25.04.08, p. 193, available here the other two got married, but descendants from Del Val Argemí and Escofet Argemí lines did not become public figures.María Nieves Argemí Albiñana in 1946 married Mariano del Val, La Prensa 07.02.46, available here; María del Pilar Argemí Albiñana in 1931 married José M. Escofet Rodríguez, Hoja Oficial de la Provincia de Barcelona 23.01.50, available here The best known Argemí's relative was his brother-in-law and business partner, Joaquín Albiñana Folch.García Daza 2023 Recognized as a successful businessman, he was shot by an anarchist during final phases of the Catalan pistolerismo wave in 1923.La Voz 21.06.23, available here
Entrepreneur
At least since 1899 Argemí was operating the textile plant he inherited in Manresa."tenia la fàbrica i el molí del Pont Vell o de Sant Pau des de 1899", Argemí i de Martí, Lluís, [in:] Mancomunitat de Catalunya service, available here In 1915 he was still recorded as owner of Fábrica de San Pau,Argemí y de Martí, Luis, [in:] official Senado website, Expediente personal tab, available here yet none of the sources consulted confirms he remained engaged in the cotton business later on; in the 1920s he was not listed among the San Pau stakeholders.J.S., La fábrica de les Roques de Sant Pau (1970), [in:] El Pou service 19.06.20, available here However, Argemí remained engaged in textile industry because of his newly developed chemical enterprise. In the early 1900s he set up in BarcelonaArgemí y de Martí, Luis, [in:] official Senado website, Expediente personal tab, available here a company named Argemí y Cía, managed by his relative Mariano Miralles y Quintano.see the notary statement reproduced in Argemí y de Martí, Luis, [in:] official Senado website, Expediente personal tab, available here It was producing various type of dyes, used for textiles. Its flagship product was a white paint pigment branded Nevin; Argemí was its only manufacturer in Spain.García Daza 2023 He co-operated with numerous textile companies, including this owned by Albiñana. In 1917 the two families re-established their business in Barcelona as Industrias Químicas Albiñana Argemi S.A. (IQAA).its executive board consisted of José María Albiñana, Joaquín Albiñana, Luis Argemí and Mariano Miralles (Argemí's maternal relative); "dedicándose á la fabricación de un sustitutivo del blanco de zinc y del albayalde (denominado 'blanco Nevín') y á la elaboración de algunos otros productos químicos", Madrid Cientifico 1918, available here Developed into a large chemical plant with hundreds of employees, in the 1920s this company kept producing NevinBarcelona. Anuario de la Ciudad 1924, available here and other types of pigment, like lithopone;La Hormiga de Oro 18.06.21, available here in the latter case, IQAA entered an international cartel, which controlled most of the European market.other partners in the cartel were Orr’s Zinc White Limited from Britain, Maastrichtsche Zinkwit-Maatschappij from the Netherlands, Zinkhüttenbetrieb from Poland, and a few German companies, like IG Farben or Verein für Chemische und Metallurgische Produktion, Rolf Petri, Zwischen Konkurrenz und Kooperation. Die deutsche Chemieindustrie und das technologische Aufholen Italiens, [in:] Rolf Petri (ed.), Technologietransfer aus der deutschen Chemieindustrie (1925 – 1960), Berlin 2004, ISBN 3428113144, p. 263 Later the company run into problems, accumulated debt and suspended payments, yet it is not clear whether the case was not rather this of a war between the owner and trade unions.El Día Gráfico 05.08.33, available here In the 1930s Argemí remained active in Cámara Nacional de Industrias Químicas, where he served as vice-president,El Día Gráfico 12.04.30, available here and co-organized 1930El Día Gráfico 07.06.30, available here and 1932El Día Gráfico 05.07.32, available here Congreso Nacional de las Industrias de la Pintura.