Celestino Félix Alcocer Valderramafull name in Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 14.11.75, available here (1855-1924) was a Spanish politician. Throughout all his life, since teenage volunteering to legitimist troops, he supported the Carlist cause; his political career climaxed during two subsequent terms in the lower chamber of the Cortes in 1907-1914. Within Traditionalism in 1906-1914 he was the regional leader in Old Castile and the provincial one in Burgos; in 1908-1912 he was also Tesorero General, the key man behind the party finances. His activity was related to 3 provinces: his native Burgos, but also Biscay and Álava.
Family and youth
One theory holds that the Alcocer line starts with a son to the king of Navarre, Sancho II.Luciano Huidobro y Serna, Tubilla del Lago, [in:] Boletín de la Comisión Provincial de Monumentos y de la Institución Fernán González de la ciudad de Burgos 28/106 (1949), p. 8. The family nest was allegedly the village now known as Alcocero de Mola, Huidobro y Serna 1949, p. 7. The village was originally named "Alcocer"; in 1937 an aircraft with general Mola crashed on a nearby mountain, and the place was renamed to Alcocero de Mola. The name survived purges of public space related to Ley de Memoria Histórica and Ley de Memoria Democrática, and is still named Alcocero de Mola Since the Middle Ages the branch has been related to Bureba (Burgos province), and in particular to its key city, Briviesca.Esteban Díez Sáez, Baltasar Temiño y Banuelos, oriundo de Temiño (Burgos), uno de los fundadores y primeros colonizadores de la ciudad de Zacatécas, (Méjico), [in:] Boletín de la Institución Fernán González 235 (2007), pp. 482-483 However, Celestino's only ancestor identified was his father,one work, when mentioning Celestino's son, lists numerous members of the Alcocer family from the 16th, 17th and 18th century, down to a Juan Manuel Alcocer Crespo, born 1787, Huidobro 1949, p. 8. However, it is not clear whether Alcocer Crespo was the grandfather of Celestino Bernabé Alcocer Arza (died 1888), also the native of Briviesca.La Paz 27.07.51, available here He counted among minor landholders; in the mid-19th century he owned at leastuntil the 1870s the family members were gaining new properties, not clear how large, e.g. in 1871 the brothers Bernabé, Jacinto and Mateo assumed ownership of some land in Covarrubia, Jurisprudencia civil. Colección completa de las sentencias dictadas por el Tribunal Supremo en recursos de nulidad..., Madrid 1879, p. 415 200 ha in the province of Burgos,in 1861 Bernabé owned “tierras de 309 fanegas 2 celemines y casa”, which is roughly equal to 200 ha, Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 24.02.61, available here and possibly more in the province of Guadalajara.in 1859 a "Bernabé Alcocer" was working (and probably owned) an estate at the outskirts of Guadalajara, which produced annually 4.972 reales. It is not clear whether the man in question was Celestino's father, Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Guadalajara 20.05.59, available here In 1848 he held the rank of teniente de milicias provinciales,La España 20.03.49, available here and retired in 1852 as capitán graduado.Boletín Oficial del Ejército 15.09.52, available here Bernabé aspired to distinguished local roles; in 1866 he was running for diputación provincialLa Epoca 23.11.66, available here and was successfully elected in 1871.La Iberia 12.02.71, available here His brothers held fairly high positions in judicature; in the 1850s and the 1860s JacintoEl Tiempo 29.02.72, available here served as a longtime judge in Madrid, Baleares and especially Zaragoza,Guía de forasteros en Madrid 1864, p. 381, available here while Mateo was magistrado of Supremo Tribunal de JusticiaLa Fidelidad Castellana 18.01.88, available here and senator for Burgos (1887-1890) and Zaragoza (1893-1899).see Alcocer y Arza, Mateo entry, [in:] official Senate service, available here
At unspecified time Bernabé married Casilda de Valderrama; none of the sources consulted provides any information either on her or her family. The couple lived mostly in Briviesca; they had 4 children, apart from the only son Celestino also Teresa, Carlota, and Maria Augustina. As teenager since the late 1860s Celestino was frequenting Instituto Provincial de Burgos;Resumén del estado que ha tenido el Instituto Provincial de 2a Enseñanza de Burgos durante el curso escolar de 1872 á 1873, Burgos 1873, p. 16, available here in 1872 he completed the bachillerato curriculum and obtained the title in October 1872.Memoria del Instituto Provincial de 2a Enseñanza de Burgos durante el curso escolar de 1879 á 1880, Burgos 1880, p. 42, available here Following the military episode of the Third Carlist War, in 1876 he enrolled at the law faculty in Universidad Central in Madrid, where he graduated in 1880 in derecho civil y canónico.Alcocer Valderrama, Celestino entry, [in:] Pares. Portal de Archivos Españoles service, available here It is not clear whether and if yes how much land Celestino inherited, as due to Carlist engagements the family estate was at least partially expropriated,Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 05.03.75, available here even though as late as 1877 Alcocer Arza appeared as "propietario".Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 08.11.77, available here. It is not clear whether other of his properties were also expropriated, e.g. this near Lerma, compare Boletín Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 03.11.75, available here In the early- and mid-1880s Celestino was rather noted as minor state official, subalterno de hacienda, first in the province of LogroñoLa Rioja 12.02.89, available here and then briefly in Cáceres.El Noticiero 16.06.88, available here It was in 1886 that he was first listed as abogado.Anuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración 1886, available here
At unknown date, though in 1884 latest, Alcocer married Dolores Ribacoba Olabarrietain the press of the era her apellidos might have been written as "Rivacoba Olavarrieta", compare El Alaves 12.04.92, available here from Orduña; her fatherThe Rivacoba family was among Alavese industrial and financial tycoons of the late 18th century, involved also in banking business in Madrid. Numerous details in Antonio Martínez Borallo, Élites ilustradas al servicio de la Monarquía española: las redes de comerciantes vascos y navarros en Madrid, 1700-1830 [PhD thesis Complutense], Madrid 2021, esp. pp. 325-326 partially owned salt ponds Salinas de Añana in Álava and the family counted among the richest in Valle de Ayala.La Rioja 05.07.95, available here The couple settled in Orduña, where Celestino practiced law.in 1886 Alcocer was listed among the abogados in Orduña, see Annuario del comercio, de la industria, de la magistratura y de la administración 1886, available here, though it is not clear whether he practiced. He has probably assumed management of some landed property, brought in as dowry by his wife, as in the mid-1880s he was noted as engaged in exploration and production of plaster in Orduña, and co-owned a company Zirión, Alcocer y Cía, see El Noticiero Bilbaino 29.11.85, available here They had 5 children, all of them sons. The oldest one, Alberto Alcocer Ribacoba, became a high Francoist official; apart from serving as mayor of Madrid in 1923-24, he held the same position also in 1939-1946, later becoming secretary general of the Bank of Spain. Among Celestino's grandsons one died as military aviator when fighting with División Azul in Russia;Y 01.11.41, available here another became a known stockbroker. Celestino's great-grandsons, Alberto Alcocer TorraAlberto Alcocer y Torra entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here. He is the owner of 8,800 ha and "uno de las mega terratenientes", and ranks at position 117 on the list of the richest people in Spain in 2025, 117: Alberto Alcocer Torra, [in:] El Mundo 16.02.25, available here and Alberto Cortina Alcocer,he is son to Celestino's granddaughter Maria Luisa Alcocer Moreno; she married Pedro Cortina Mauri, a longtime procurador in the Cortes, serving in diplomacy and briefly a foreign minister in 1974-1975, Maria Luisa de Alcocer Moreno entry, [in:] Geneanet service, available here two cousins in the media often referred to as "Albertos",compare e.g. Los Albertos deberán pagar 10,8 millones por el ‘caso Urbanor’, [in:] El País 12.12.14, available here are among the richest people in Spain. Active in construction, minerals, agriculture and other businesses, they are subject to numerous controversies.especially in so-called Caso Urbanor, compare "Los Albertos", condenados a cuatro meses de cárcel por estafa en el caso Urbanor, [in] RTVE 23.10.09, available here
Early Carlist engagements (before 1893)
Celestino's father was an ardent Carlist; in his youth he served in legitimist ranks during the First Carlist War in the 1830s, following the defeat accepted as lieutenant in the governmental army thanks to so-called Convenio de Vergara."retirado procedente del convenio de Vergara", La Correspondencia de España 27.05.72, available here Engaged in lawsuits against the state,Sentencias del Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, Madrid 1875, p. 364, available here he joined the Traditionalists also during the Third Carlist War,however, in the mid-1870s he was not listed among Carlist leaders either in the municipality of Briviesca, or in the partido judicial of Briviesca, or in Burgos, La Esperanza 12.02.72, available here and in the early 1870s served as vice-president of Diputación de Castilla (the Carlist one).B. de Artagan [Reinaldo Brea], Principe heroico y soldados leales, Barcelona 1912, p. 230 Following another defeat he suffered some repressive measures,La Correspondencia de España 27.05.72, available here including expropriation,Boletin Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 05.03.75, available here yet until death he remained president of the Carlist junta in Briviesca.La Fidelidad Castellana 24.03.87, available here Celestino was 17 years old at the outbreak of the Third Carlist War. According to a later highly hagiographic account, Bernabé when assuming duties in service of Carlos VII ordered his son to look after home and the family economy. However, Celestino decided to disobey; together with a servant he reported to the Carlist capital in Estella, where admitted to cavalry, he served as ayudante de campo of general Juan Zaratiegui Celigüeta.Artagan 1912, p. 230 His later fate and wartime itinerary is unclear; one source claims he served in tercer escuadrón de Navarra under command of Aureliano Real.Diario de Burgos 11.04.07, available here After the war he was subject to governmental military service as part of "segundo reemplazo de 1875" from Briviesca; however, he paid his way off and in 1876 it was declared that Celestino "ha cubierto su responsibilidad per medio de sustituto"."fulfilled his duties by means of substitution", Boletin Oficial de la Provincia de Burgos 22.09.87, available here