Eduardo Dato e Iradier (12 August 1856 – 8 March 1921) was a Spanish political leader during the Spanish Restoration period. He served three times as

Spanish prime minister The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government (), is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister nominates the ministers and chairs the Council of Ministers. In this sense, the prime minister establishes the Gove ...

: from 27 October 1913 to 9 December 1915, from 11 June 1917 to 3 November 1917, and from 28 April 1920 until his assassination by Catalan anarchists. He also held eleven cabinet ministries, and was four times

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the

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Career

Born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

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, son of Carlos Dato y Granados (himself the son of Carlos Dato Camacho y Marín and wife Cayetana Ruperta Granados y García, de Vivancos e Acosta) and wife Rosa Lorenza Iradier e Arce, of Galician descent. He graduated in

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the Complutense University in 1875. He opened his law office two years later. Elected to the Spanish parliament in 1883, he became Under-secretary for the Ministry of the Interior in 1892. He held the position of

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

and

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

over the next fifteen years. In 1907, he ran for and won the position of

Mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Adm ...

. In 1910, he entered the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. In 1913 he became prime minister for the first time. In 1915, he left that position, but would return to it for a short while in 1917. He became the 230th Minister for Foreign Affairs from 22 March 1918 to 9 November 1918. Then he moved to the post of

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

and stayed there until 1920, when he led the government as prime minister again. Dato was a member of the International Permanent Court in

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(he became

vice-president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

in 1913), member of the International Law Institute, administrator of the bank firm 'Banco Hipotecario' and president of the National Institute of Social Security, the Council of Public Instruction and the Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation.

Assassination

On 8 March 1921 in Madrid, while being driven from the parliament building and in front of the

Puerta de Alcalá The Puerta de Alcalá is a Neo-classical gate in the Plaza de la Independencia in Madrid, Spain. It was a gate of the former Walls of Philip IV. It stands near the city center and several meters away from the main entrance to the Parque del Bu ...

, Dato was assassinated by three Catalan anarchists, Luis Nicolau, Pedro Mateu, and Ramón Casanellas, who were riding a motorcycle. This was the second murder of a Spanish prime minister in less than a decade; in 1912 José Canalejas had been killed similarly. His assassination came amid rising unrest between trade unions, particularly the

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo The (CNT; ) is a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist national trade union center, trade union confederation. Founded in 1910 in Barcelona from groups brought together by the trade union ''Solidaridad Obrera (historical union), Solidaridad Obrera'', ...

, and the government. King

Alfonso XIII of Spain Alfonso XIII ( Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May 1886 – 28 February 1941), also ...

posthumously made him a duke by bestowing the title "Duchess of Dato" on his widow.

Honours

Dato was conferred with the following honours: * Chain of the

Order of Charles III The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III, originally Royal and Much Distinguished Order of Charles III (, originally ; Abbreviation, Abbr.: OC3) is a knighthood and one of the three preeminent Order of merit, orders of merit bes ...

* Knight

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of the First Class of the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five Papal order of knighthood, orders of knighthood of th ...

of the

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of the Order of Christ of

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. * 340th

of the

Order of the Tower and Sword The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit (), before 1917 the ancient and most noble order of the Tower and of the Sword, of valour, loyalty and merit (), is one of the four former ancient Portuguese milita ...

of Portugal. * After he died, his wife was granted the title of Duchess of Dato in his honor.

Marriage and children

He married María del Carmen de Barrenechea y Montegui,

Dame ''Dame'' is a traditionally British honorific title given to women who have been admitted to certain orders of chivalry. It is the female equivalent of ''Sir'', the title used by knights. Baronet, Baronetesses Suo jure, in their own right also u ...

of the Order of Noble Dames of Queen Maria Luisa of Spain and

of the Order of Beneficence of

, of

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

descent (-

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, 1926), daughter of Juan José de Barrenechea e Urdampilleta (himself the son of Pedro de Barrenechea y Zubea and wife María Ignacia de Urdampilleta y Lagarto) and wife Micaela Montegui y Mercaide (herself the daughter of José Manuel Montegui and wife María de la Concepción Mercaide), and had three daughters: * Isabel Dato y Barrenechea, 2nd Duchess of Dato, unmarried and without issue * María del Carmen Dato y Barrenechea, 3rd Duchess of Dato (

, 6 December 1885 – 1954), married to Eugenio Espinosa de los Monteros y Bermejillo, and had issue, two sons * María de la Concepción Dato y Barrenechea (

, 2 May 1890 –

, 16 September 1973), married in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 25 April 1922 to Ernesto de Zulueta e Isasi, of the

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es of

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

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s of Casa Blanca (

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, 26 April 1892 –

, 9 September 1969), a

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, and had issue

References

External links

Eduardo Dato e Iradier
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dato e Iradier, Eduardo 1856 births 1921 deaths People from A Coruña Prime ministers of Spain Assassinated Spanish politicians Deaths by firearm in Spain Mayors of Madrid People murdered in Spain Foreign ministers of Spain Presidents of the Congress of Deputies (Spain) Conservative Party (Spain) politicians Justice ministers of Spain Leaders of political parties in Spain Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration Assassinated prime ministers Spanish judges of international courts and tribunals People murdered in 1921 Politicians assassinated in the 1920s

Career

Assassination

Honours

Marriage and children

References

Further reading

External links