Eduardo de Figueroa, 8th Count of Yebes

Eduardo de Figueroa y Alonso-Martínez, 8th Count of Yebes (20 September 1899 – 11 July 1984) was a Spanish aristocrat, architect, politician and writer. He was a member of parliament for Barbastro, fellow of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and president of the National Board of Trophy Hunting Homologation.[1]

The Most Illustrious The Count of Yebes MP
Born	20 September 1899 Madrid, Spain
Died	11 July 1984 (aged 84) Madrid, Spain
Spouse(s)	Carmen Muñoz y Roca-Tallada ​ ​ (m. 1922)​
Children	2
Parents	Alvaro de Figueroa y Torres, 1st Count of Romanones (father) Casilda Alonso-Martínez y Martín (mother)

Early life

He was born in Madrid as the sixth child of Alvaro de Figueroa y Torres, 1st Count of Romanones, who was Prime Minister of Spain, and his wife Casilda Alonso-Martínez y Martín, the daughter of Manuel Alonso Martínez.[1] He had six siblings: Casilda, Luis, Álvaro, Carlos, José and Agustín. His brother Álvaro was Mayor of Madrid between 1921 and 1922, José won a silver medal in polo at the 1920 Summer Olympics and Agustín was a successful movie director, and the father-in-law of singer Raphael.

Hunting

Yebes has gone down as one of the most well-known hunters of the 20th century.[2] His book Veinte Años de Caza Mayor (Twenty Years of Big Game Hunting) was prologued by Ortega y Gasset and is still considered one of the gems of hunting literature.[3] He was described as "tough and wiry and willing to work for his trophy despite being a nobleman".[4]

Amongst his achievements are harvesting the current world record giant sable antelope in Angola in 1949, currently on show at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.[4][5][1] He was also the first to document the existence of the Iberian ibex in the Penibaetic System.[6]

Yebes was a passionate roe deer hunter since his finca, El Robledo, had a plentiful population.

He was made Honorific President of the Royal Hunting Federation of Spain and founded the National Board of Trophy Hunting Homologation with fellow hunters in 1950, a body of which he was the first president.[1]

He died in Madrid in July 1984.[7]

Pictured in the middle of the back row, with a cigar. General Primo de Rivera and Alfonso XIII lead the way, Club Puerta de Hierro, 1928

Issue

On the 3rd of July 1922, he married Carmen Muñoz y Roca-Tallada at San Fermín de los Navarros in Madrid. They had two children:

• Mercedes de Figueroa y Muñoz (b. 1924)
• María del Carmen de Figueroa y Muñoz, 9th Countess of Yebes (b. 1929)

Titles and styles

Titles

• 8th Count of Yebes[8]

Styles

• 29 November 1903 – 25 April 1950: The Most Illustrious Don Eduardo de Figueroa y Alonso-Martínez
• 1922 – 11 July 1984: The Most Illustrious The Count of Yebes

Selected works

• 20 Años de Caza Mayor, Plus Ultra, Madrid, 1948.

References

1. Priego (2017). p. 173
2. Walker (2004). p. 104
3. Stephen Bodio, Sportsman's Library: 100 Essential, Engaging, Offbeat, and Occasionally Odd Fishing and Hunting Books for the Adventurous Reader, Rowman & Littlefield (Apr., 2013), p. 210
4. Walker (2004). p. 105
5. Pedro Vaz Pinto, Evolutionary history of the critically endangered giant sable antelope (Hippotragus niger variani): Insights into its phylogeography, population, genetics, demography and conservation, University of Porto (Porto, 2017), p. 9
6. Concepción Diez-Pastor Iribas. «Eduardo de Figueroa y Alonso Martínez». Diccionario biográfico español de la Real Academia de la Historia
7. ABC Madrid: 14th June 1984
8. Revista Hidalguía número 56. Año 1963, p. 50

Bibliography

• Priego, Count of (2017). Cazadores Españoles del Siglo XX. Turner Publicaciones. ISBN 978-84-16714-29-2.
• Walker, John Frederick (2004). A Certain Curve of Horn: The Hundred-Year Quest for the Giant Sable Antelope of Angola. Grove Press. ISBN 978-08-02140-68-5.