Regina de Lamo
Regina de Lamo Jiménez | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date Úbeda, Jaén, Spain |
| Died | November 17, 1947 (aged 77) Barcelona, Spain |
| Other names | Regina Lamo Jiménez, Regina de Lamo Ximénez, Regina Lamo de O'Neill, Nora Avante (pen name) |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist, music teacher, writer, journalist, feminist activist, cooperative organizer, syndicalist, anarchist supporter |
| Known for | Feminist advocacy, cooperative economics promotion, Spanish social activism |
Regina de Lamo Jiménez (7 September 1870 – 17 November 1947) was a multifaceted Spanish intellectual and activist who remained influential until the onset of the Francoist regime. Her talents spanned piano performance, music and vocal instruction, authorship, journalism, feminist advocacy, cooperative economics promotion, syndicalism and anarchism support, as well as propaganda efforts. Throughout her career, she used various signatures including Regina Lamo Jiménez, Regina de Lamo Ximénez, Regina Lamo de O'Neill, and the pen name Nora Avante.
Biography
Regina de Lamo was born on 7 September 1870 in Úbeda, Jaén, into a liberal family that prioritized a broad and progressive education. In pursuit of an environment more closely aligned with Enlightenment principles and the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, her family relocated to Madrid in 1876.
She distinguished herself by winning the First National Piano Prize at the Madrid Royal Conservatory and subsequently secured first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris. In Madrid, she wed Enrique O'Neill Acosta, a Mexican diplomat and educator of Irish ancestry. The couple had two daughters: Carlota O'Neill y Lamo (born 1905) and Enriqueta O'Neill de Lamo (born 1909). Following her early years of motherhood, Regina returned to public life through lectures and written works.
During the Spanish Civil War, she played an active role in Children's Assistance by coordinating evacuations for children affiliated with the Republican side. She also undertook efforts to secure the release of her incarcerated daughter Carlota and provided care for her granddaughter Lidia Falcón in Madrid. After the conflict ended, Regina lived in Barcelona under the guardianship of her daughter Enriqueta, where she authored romantic novels under the pseudonym Nora Avante and taught music to pupils including Estrellita Castro. She passed away in Barcelona on 17 November 1947.
Professional career
Lamo’s initial vocation was as a teacher of music and singing; however, she soon diversified into multiple disciplines. Her work encompassed journalism, essay writing, rhapsody performance, playwriting, and active promotion of birth control, abortion rights, eugenics, euthanasia, and free love. As a committed feminist, she was a leading advocate for women’s rights and collaborated closely with Lluís Companys. Despite prevailing male-centered viewpoints of her time, she is acknowledged as part of the Generation of '98 literary movement.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, she engaged deeply with social activism. In 1920, she founded Valencia’s first Banco Obrero (Worker’s Bank) along with establishing the Cooperativa Obrera publishing firm. She contributed to La Terra magazine alongside figures such as Lluís Companys and Amadeu Aragay.
Her travels took her extensively across Spain and Europe where she represented cooperative interests at significant events like the Regional Congress of Catalonian Cooperatives (1920) and the First National Cooperative Congress (1921). She participated in founding agrarian unions including L'Unió de Rabassaires i altres cultivadors del Camp de Catalunya (UR) in 1922. As a delegate to both the International Labour Organization and the League of Nations, she journeyed to Geneva accompanied by Clara Campoamor.
Lamo was instrumental in creating Spain’s Association of Friends of Animals and Plants, campaigning against bullfighting and advocating for better treatment of horses involved in these spectacles. She worked alongside Hildegart Rodriguez and Irene Falcón at Nosotras, a Marxist feminist publishing house, providing introductions to important texts such as Federica Montseny’s Escrits politic and Santiago Valentí Camp’s Las reivindicaciones femeninas (1927). Furthermore, she facilitated publication of final editions by Rosario de Acuña, a prominent author and close associate of her brother Carlos de Lamo Jiménez.
Selected Publications
- El ensayo ¿Cómo se mide la inteligencia infantil?, Ed. Eiocos, 1923
- Introduction to Escrits Politics by Federica Montseny, Ed. Luís Romero, Madrid, 1925
- La Colegiata, part of La Novela Roja Collection, No. 4, Ed. Pegaso, 1926
- Introduction to Las reivindicaciones femeninas, 1927
- Biografía: El Vals eterno de Juan Strauss, 1942
References
- 1870 births
- 1947 deaths
- 20th-century Spanish women writers
- Anarcha-feminists
- Spanish cooperative organizers
- People from Úbeda
- Spanish socialist feminists
- Spanish anarchists
- Spanish bankers
- Spanish editors
- Spanish journalists
- Spanish music educators
- Spanish pianists
- Spanish romantic fiction writers
- Spanish trade unionists
- Spanish women academics
- Spanish women editors
- Spanish women essayists
- Spanish women journalists
- Spanish women pianists
- Spanish women's rights activists
- Women bankers
- Women print editors
- Spanish women music educators
- Feminist musicians
- Spanish women trade unionists