PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Pidal Bernaldo de Quirós, Pedro (1869-1941)Other forms

Dates of existence/Biographical dates:

Gijón (Asturias, España) 1869-11-02 - Gijón (Asturias, España) 1941-11-17

History:

Spanish politician and writer. He was the son of Alejandro Pidal y Mon, president of the Congress of Deputies, and Ignacia Bernaldo de Quirós and González de Cienfuegos. On 16 December 1892, Pedro Pidal Bernaldo de Quirós was appointed I Marquis of Villaviciosa in Asturias by King Alfonso XIII.

He graduated in Law from the Central University of Madrid and he was elected parliamentary deputy and Senator for life in several parliamentary terms. From his position as member of the Parliament, he promoted the approval of the first Ley de Parques Nacionales (National Parks Act) in 1916, which was followed by the creation in 1918 of the first Spanish national parks: the Covadonga Mountain National Park and the Ordesa National Park. He was appointed General Commissioner of National Parks.

Pidal Bernaldo de Quirós also excelled as an athlete in the disciplines of mountaineering, alpinism and shooting, participating in the shooting competition at the Olympic Games in Paris 1900. He was a member of the first Spanish Olympic Committee. He produced numerous journalistic works and monographic works on political themes, literary criticism, and naturalism, as well as on Asturian themes. Likewise, he was president of the Mieres mining and steel company.