| Francesc Ferrer | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 January 1859 Alella, Spain |
| Died | 13 October 1909 Barcelona, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia (10 January 1859 – 13 October 1909) (known as Francisco Ferrer y Guardia in Spanish and often simply as Francisco Ferrer) was a Spanish Catalan free-thinker and anarchist.
He was born in Alella (a small town near Barcelona) to Roman Catholic parents. A follower of Spanish republican leader Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Ferrer was exiled to Paris with his wife and children in 1885. Divorcing in 1899, he remarried a wealthy Parisian teacher shortly thereafter.
In 1901 he returned to Spain and opened the Escuela Moderna (The Modern School) to teach middle-class children (then) radical social values. In 1906 he was arrested on suspicion of involvement with Mateu Morral's attack on King Alphonso XIII and released uncharged over a year later. His school failed and closed while he was incarcerated.
Early in the summer of 1908, after his release from jail, he wrote the story of the Modern School. The work was entitled The Origins and Ideals of the Modern School and was translated into English by Joseph McCabe and published by the Knickerbocker Press in 1913.
Following the declaration of martial law in 1909 during the Tragic Week, he was arrested and executed without trial by firing squad at Montjuich Fortress in Barcelona on 13 October.
Shortly after his execution, numerous supporters of Ferrer's ideas in the United States formed what were called Modern Schools, or Ferrer Schools, modeled after la Escuela Moderna. The first and most notable Modern School was formed in New York City in 1911, and then later a community was founded around a school, known as Ferrer Colony and Modern School.
In Anarchism and Other Essays, Emma Goldman called Francesc Ferrer a "rebel" and said that "his spirit would rise in just indignation against the iron régime of his country..."