Ferrer y Guardia, Francisco
Ferrer y Guardia, Francisco
Born Jan. 10, 1859, in Alella, near Barcelona; died Oct. 13, 1909, in Barcelona. Spanish educator.
Ferrer y Guardia, a petit bourgeois republican, was closely connected with the anarchists. In 1901, in Barcelona, he founded a secular “contemporary school,” which soon became an anticlerical educational center. Persecuted for his republican and anticlerical activities, he was twice compelled to emigrate to France, in 1886 and in 1907. In 1909, during the uprising in Barcelona against the war in Morocco, Ferrer y Guardia was arrested. Charged with leading the insurrection, he was shot. His execution evoked a wave of protests in many countries.