Regina de Lamo facts for kids

Regina de Lamo Jiménez (born September 7, 1870 – died November 17, 1947) was a very smart and active Spanish woman. She did many different things before a time called the Francoist dictatorship began in Spain. Regina was a talented pianist and a music teacher. She was also a writer, a journalist, and a strong supporter of women's rights. She worked to help women have equal opportunities. Regina also believed in people working together to share resources, a system called the cooperative economic model. She supported syndicalism (workers' unions) and anarchism (a political idea about freedom). She often used different names for her writings, like Regina Lamo Jiménez or Nora Avante.

Regina's Early Life and Education

Regina de Lamo Jiménez was born on September 7, 1870, in a town called Úbeda in southern Spain. Her parents, Anselmo de Lamo and Micaela Jiménez, believed in liberal ideas. This meant they supported freedom and equal rights for people. They made sure Regina received a full education.

When Regina was six, her family moved to Madrid in 1876. They wanted to live in a more open-minded place. This new environment would help Regina and her brother, Carlos, learn in a way that matched the ideas of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a time when people focused on reason and new ways of thinking. They also liked the ideas of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, a school that promoted modern and free education.

Musical Talent and Family Life

Regina was very talented in music. She won the top national piano prize at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. Later, she also won first prize at the Conservatoire de Paris in France.

In Madrid, she met Enrique O'Neill Acosta. He was a Mexican diplomat and a teacher, 15 years older than her. They got married and had two daughters. Their first daughter, Carlota O'Neill y Lamo, was born in 1905. Their second daughter, Enriqueta O'Neill de Lamo, was born in 1909. After focusing on her young children for a few years, Regina started giving talks and publishing her writings again.

Life During the Spanish Civil War

During the Spanish Civil War, Regina helped children. She worked with a group called Children's Assistance. They helped move children from the Republican side to safety.

During this difficult time, she also tried to free her daughter Carlota from prison. She looked for her lost granddaughters and took care of her young granddaughter, Lidia Falcón, in Madrid. After the war ended, Regina lived in Barcelona. Her daughter Enriqueta helped her. Regina wrote romantic novels under the name Nora Avante. She also taught music, piano, and singing. One of her students was the famous singer Estrellita Castro. Regina de Lamo died in Barcelona on November 17, 1947.

Regina's Diverse Career and Activism

Regina de Lamo started her career teaching music and singing. But she was interested in many things. Soon, she expanded her work to other areas, becoming a very active person in many fields.

Writer, Journalist, and Feminist

Regina wrote many articles and essays. She was a journalist, a rhapsodist (someone who recites poetry), and a writer of poems and plays. She was a strong feminist and worked hard for women's rights. She is also known for working with Lluís Companys, an important political figure. People consider her a writer of the Generation of '98. This was a group of Spanish writers who became known after the Spanish-American War. Her work was recognized despite the common belief at the time that men's views were more important (called an androcentrist perspective).

Social Movements and Cooperatives

Regina was often mentioned in news stories about social movements in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, she helped start the first Worker's Bank (Banco Obrero) in Valencia. She also founded the Cooperativa Obrera publishing house. She wrote for La Terra magazine with Lluís Companys and Amadeu Aragay.

She traveled a lot around Spain and to other European countries. In 1920, she spoke at the Regional Congress of Catalonian Cooperatives. She was a representative for the Valencia Popular Credit Cooperative. She also attended the First National Cooperative Congress in 1921. She helped create farming unions, like L'Unió de Rabassaires i altres cultivadors del Camp de Catalunya (UR) in 1922. Regina also traveled to Geneva with Clara Campoamor as a representative for the International Labour Organization and the League of Nations.

Animal Rights Advocate

Regina de Lamo also worked on other important issues. She helped co-found the Association of Friends of Animals and Plants in Spain. She strongly believed that bullfighting should be stopped. She campaigned for horses used in bullfights to wear protective padding. At that time, horses were often badly injured by bulls. It was a very unpleasant sight, especially when their injuries were quickly sewn up in the arena so they could be used again.

Collaborations and Publications

Regina worked with Hildegart Rodriguez and Irene Falcón at the Marxist feminist publishing house Nosotras. She wrote the introduction for Federica Montseny's book Escrits politic. She also wrote the introduction for Las reivindicaciones femeninas by Santiago Valentí Camp in 1927. She made sure that the final versions of the works of Rosario de Acuña were published. Rosario de Acuña was a famous writer and a friend of Regina's brother, Carlos de Lamo Jiménez.

Selected Works

• El ensayo ¿Cómo se mide la inteligencia infantil? Ed. Eiocos, 1923
• Prologue of Escrits Politics by Federica Montseny, Ed. Luís Romero, Madrid, 1925
• La Colegiata, La Novela Roja Collection, No. 4, Ed. Pegaso, 1926
• Prologue of Las reivindicaciones femeninas by Santiago Valentí Camp, 1927
• Biografía: El Vals eterno de Juan Strauss, 1942

See also

In Spanish: Regina de Lamo para niños