Enrique Barrau Salado (1912-1961) was a Spanish military officer and a Carlist militant. He is particularly known for his role in the Andalusian anti-Republican Traditionalist conspiracy of the mid-1930s, his engagement in the July 1936 coup in Seville, and then for his position as a requeté commander in the Tercio Virgen de los Reyes battalion during the Spanish Civil War. Afterwards he became a professional officer in the army and retired in the rank of a major. After the war he did not engage openly in politics, yet among the Andalusian Carlists he remained an iconic point of reference. Some fictitious literary characters have been modeled after him.
Family and youth
The French noble family of Barrau was traditionally related to Toulouse; some of its representatives served as military among Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis, during the anti-liberal French intervention in Spain in the 1820s.this was the case of Auguste de Barrau (1792-1848) It is unclear whether the great-grandfather of Enrique, Jules Barrau, was among them,Jules Barrau entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. He was married to Delfine Galinier, see Delfina Galinier entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here yet his Toulouse-born son and Enrique’s paternal grandfather, Leoncio Barrau Galinier (1837-1924),full name Julio Santiago Leoncio Barrau Galinier, see Julio Santiago Leoncio Barrau Galinier entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. He was married to Adela Grande Pérez (1844-1939), see Adela Grande Perez entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here studied in Seville and became a civil engineer specializing in roads. He grew to a distinguished member of the hispalense bourgeoisie;he lived at calle Lombardos 9-11, now calle Múñoz y Oliver, Julio Santiago Leoncio Barrau Galinier, see Julio Santiago Leoncio Barrau Galinier entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here in the mid-1870s he was CEO of the Alcalá railway line,La Correspondencia de España 26.12.74, available here while in the mid-1880s he was member of the board and manager of Caminos de Hierro de Este de España. Barrau Galinier co-purchased the defunct San Agustín convent and turned it into a food market,in 1883, see Alberto Fernández González, El desaparecido monasterio sevillano de San Agustín, [in:] Archivo Español de Arte LXXXVI (2013), pp. 317, 326 operational until 1900.Fernández González 2013, p. 327 In the early 20th century he engaged financially in Banco Díez y Vergara, managed an undefined "minerales" businessAnuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración 1894, Madrid 1894, p. 1991, available here and remained CEO of Ferrocarril de Sevilla, Alcalá, Carmona.Historia de la Banca de Andalucía, [in:] Banca Andalucia blog 04.02.15, available here l He was a cultured person; apart from owning Teatro San Fernando and Teatro Cervantes,Manuel Jesús Roldan, Un barco hundido y la marcha Virgen del Valle, [in:] ABC [Sevilla] 09.11.15, available here he also published a booklet on the San Agustín convent.Leoncio Barrau, Notas históricas acerca el ex-convento de San Agustín de Sevilla y ex-presidio peninsular, Sevilla 1881
Barrau Galinier’s son and Enrique’s father, Enrique Barrau Grande (1871-1930),Enrique Barrau Grande entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here studied medicine and is mentioned either as "medico-cirujano"El Liberal 23.01.30, available here or "medico oculista",El Siglo Futuro 17.01.30, available here yet there is no information whether he has ever practiced. He inherited shares in his father’s railway businessthe Barrau Galinier wealth was inherited also his brother (Enrique’s paternal uncle), Julio Barrau Grande, in the press also dubbed "prestigioso industrial", see El Liberal 04.09.26, available here. The third brother, Alberto Barrau Grande, was emerging as a great Seville baritone singer; in 1896 he perished in a Guadalquivir disaster, Jesús Roldan 2015 and in the 1920s served as manager of Compañía S.A.C.for 1923 see El Liberal 14.08.23, available here, for 1927 see El Liberal 21.12.27, available here He married Carmen Salado Iznaga (1879-1957),Carmen Salado Iznaga entry, [in:] Geneanet entry, available here daughter to a respected Seville doctor;her father and the maternal grandfather of Enrique was Antonio de Padua Salado Moreno (1834-1900), Antonio de Padua Salado Moreno entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. He was himself the son of a doctor; he practiced first in Huelva and then in Seville, becoming a very respected specialist, Antonio Salado y Moreno, [in:] Galería de sevillanos notables service, available here, see also El Guadalete 15.10.00, available here a. He was married to Carmen Iznaga de Iznaga (1853-1919), see Carmen Iznaga e Iznaga entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here she was cousin to the later rector of the Seville University, Mariano Mota Salado.already as rector of the university Mariano Mota Salado was witness at Barrau’s wedding in 1940, Falange Española 18.08.40, available here The couple had 4 children, apart from the oldest Enrique also Leoncio,Leoncio Barrau Salado (1916-1996), married to Carmen de Velasco López de Letona, also joined requeté and later served in the army, see Leoncio Barrau Salado entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here, also Boletín Oficial del Estado 20.10.38, available here CarmenCarmen Barrau Salado was married to Manuel Peinado Campara, see Carmen Barrau Salado entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here and Antonio.El Liberal 23.01.30, available here Barrau Grande died in mysterious circumstances, a day after having sold majority shares in C.S.A.C., the railway company that he owned and managed.Diario de Cordoba de comercio, industria, administracion, noticias y avisos 18.01.30, available here
None of the sources consulted provides information on childhood and early education of Enrique, apart that he was strongly influenced by his maternal Salado family.ABC 14.06.96, available here Given his tumultuous youth, punctuated by detentions and arrests, it is not clear whether he pursued a university education. In 1933-1934 as Alférez de Complimento he was undergoing military training in 8. Regimiento de Caballería in Seville.Diario Oficial del Ministerio de la Guerra 12.07.35, available here, also Melchor Ferrer, Historia del tradicionalismo español, vol. XXX, Seville 1979, p. 88 There is no information on his professional engagements prior to outbreak of the civil war. Already after the conflict, in 1940,FE 18.08.40, available here, see also Petra García Vélez entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here Barrau married Petra García Vélez (died 1973);ABC 22.03.73, available here there is nothing closer known either about her or her family. The couple had 5 children: Enrique, Petra, Aurelio, Antonio and Carmen Barrau García.ABC 14.08.07, available here None of them became a public figure, though Antonio and Aurelio remained active as Carlists until the 21st century;No se han notado todas las diligencias en averiguación de los hechos de Montejurra, [in:] El País 12.01.77, available here Antonio was in executive of the Andalusian CTC,compare Directorio General de la Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista (2015), available here while Aurelio remained active in the post-war requeté organisation;see Aurelio Barrau thread, [in:] Hispanismo service, available here his daughter and Enrique’s granddaughter, Angeles Barrau Lena, acted as the Andalusian CTC treasurer.Directorio General de la Comunión Tradicionalista Carlista (2015), available here
Republic
There is nothing known of political preferences of Barrau’s paternal ancestors,a monograph on Seville Carlism until the early 20th century does not mention any Barrau (except Leoncio as author on booklet on San Agustin convent), Caín Somé Laserna, El tradicionalismo en Sevilla: crisis y renacimiento {PhD thesis Universidad de Sevilla], Sevilla 2016 though they might have nurtured some legitimist sympathies;given Auguste de Barrau served in Spain during the reactionary French intervention among Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis the maternal ones were Traditionalists of Integrist leaning. In 1930, when aged 17, the adolescent Enrique was introduced by his uncle José Salado Yznaga to Manuel Fal Conde, the Integrist leader in Andalusia;following the fall of Primo de Rivera dictatorship and re-emergence of political parties, the Integrist leader Juan Olazabal appointed Fal jefe of the Andalusian branch of Comisión Tradicionalista-Integrista, ABC 14.06.96, available here the two were later to develop sort of a father-son bond.Manuel de Santa Cruz (Alberto Ruiz de Galarreta) Apuntes y documentos para la historia del tradicionalismo español, vol. 23, Madrid 1990, p. 200. Fal was witness at Barrau's wedding in 1940, FE 18.08.40, available here Barrau followed Fal to the united Carlist organization, Comunión Tradicionalista, and in 1932 he was appointed secretario of its newly created Seville youth branch, Juventud Tradicionalista.Leandro Alvarez Rey, La derecha en la II República, Sevilla, 1931-1936, Sevilla 1993, ISBN 9788447201525, p. 146 In the summer of 1932 he was engaged in the Sanjurjo coup, but there are no details available.Francisco Espinosa Maestre, La justicia de Queipo, Madrid 2015, ISBN 9788498923162, p. 233 Barrau was then detainedAna Marín Fidalgo, Manuel M. Burgueño, In memoriam. Manuel J. Fal Conde (1894-1975), Sevilla 1980, p. 29 and though shortly released,Heraldo de Madrid 29.08.32, available here a string of incarcerations followed in December 1932,El Liberal 25.12.32, available here January 1933Heraldo de Madrid 25.01.33, available here and April 1933,La Nación 26.04.33, available here the last case related to an anti-governmental demonstration.together with Fal he displayed an demonstrating anti-governmental banner from the balcony of Centro Tradicionalista, El Siglo Futuro 26.04.33, available here He was among the longest-incarcerated Carlists of the time.Martin Blinkhorn, Carlism and Crisis in Spain 1931-1939, Cambridge 2008, ISBN 9780521207294, p. 92, also Antonio M. Moral Roncal, La cuestión religiosa en la Segunda República Española: Iglesia y carlismo, Madrid 2009, ISBN 9788497429054, p. 82
Praised by Fal as one of the most promising muchachos of the movement,El Siglo Futuro 27.05.33, available here in 1933 Barrau became secretario of Jefatura Regional de Andalucia;El Siglo Futuro 25.09.33, available here he accompanied Fal during his local party engagementsJuan Ignacio González Orta, Carlistas y falangistas en la provincia de Huelva: de la lucha contra la república al movimiento nacional [PhD thesis Universidad de Huelva], Huelva 2022, pp. 53, 56 and during longer trips across Spain, e.g. to take part in a grand Carlist rally in Zumarraga.Marín Fidalgo, Burgueño 1980, p. 31 Also in 1933 he started to organize a Seville branch of the Carlist paramilitary structure, requeté.Marín Fidalgo, Burgueño 1980, p. 30 Following a year of hectic effortse.g. in 1934 he opened the requete section in Huelva, González Orta 2022, p. 71 the organization was strong enough to stage an impressive display of strength at the Quintillo estate, when some 600 uniformed members performed drills and military exercises;González Orta 2022, p. 70 Barrau was among key speakers during the event.La Independencia 17.04.34, available here Also in 1934 he co-organized sending some Seville requetés to military training in Rome, yet it is not clear whether he went himself.Alberto Guallart, Rafael Montesinos: La Memoria Irreparable, Madrid 2007, p. 50, Nicolás Salas, Sevilla fue la clave: república, alzamiento, Guerra Civil (1931-1939), Sevilla 1992, p. 128 At the time he was already a member of Junta Directiva of the Seville CT branch.El Siglo Futuro 08.01.34, available here