Manuel Texidor Catasus

Manuel 'Manolo' Texidor Catasus was born in 1901.  He is the 4th son and last child of Emilio Texidor Torres and Dolores Catasus Bues.

He is my grandfather, I never knew him... and as I grew up I was told stories of how he was caught and subsequently escaped from Franco soldiers by jumping from trains... adventure stories... but that was all.  I knew him as Manolo Texidor.  I did not know he was a Catasus (which doesn't help internet searching - it's like searching for John Smith).

When I was 12 or 13, I sat down with my grandmother (Muriel Elisabeth Morris) and wrote down the names she could remember from his life...  brothers, Emilio, Jose, Antonio and sisters, Maria and Mercedes.  My grandmother did not know his parents' names - but knew his father was an artist - nor anything more.  Perhaps I didn't ask, because I don't think I ever knew where they were from... Barcelona? Tossa de Mar? Sitges? - all I knew was that they were from Spain.

My grandmother told me Manolo had been married three times.  The first to Greville Foster.  Second to Carmen Vinyals.  And she was the third.  Manuel had 5 children (that she knew about!!).

Manuel and Greville had a daughter, Cristina who was born in Buenos Aires, and grew up mostly in New Zealand.  Cristina now lives in Spain.

Manuel and Carmen had two children, Pol and Marina.  Pol was born in Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil War.  He was in exile with his mother and father as an infant in Normandy, France.  Marina would have been born in France.

Manuel and Elisabeth (M.E. Morris) had two children, Antonia (my mother) and Mark, both born in England.

Manuel died in Abingdon, near Oxford in 1970, about three months after I was born.  It's possible I only ever met him once and could only gurgle at him.

All this information I wrote down and kept from the age of 14... until I was 31...  when I met my cousin, Izumi Texidor Hirai for the first time in London.....

We knew nothing about Casa Texidor, very little about our grandfather, Manuel Texidor.  And we both were asking questions...

That begins the story... and everything written here I have discovered since...

"TEXI": Winner of the 24 Hour Race at Spa, Belgium

This is from El Mundo Deportivo on 13th July 1932 (my translation):

A Catalan has won in Belgium too!


"TEXI", winner of the 24 Hours race at Spa, Belgium, turns out to be Pepe Texidor, a Catalan motorist, from the heroic times.

When the GP classification was posted for the Belgium 24 hours, we did not think that one of the partners in the winning team in the 4-litre category was a Catalan sportsman, who made his first campaigns on motorbikes and Morgall sidecars, in the heroic times of our motoring history.

Texi, who teamed up with Narischkine, is none other than Pepe Texidor, intensely involved in motorcycling sport at the time of Armangué, Ferran, Arruga, Romano, Orus ... and the initial bursts of enthusiasm and initiative at the Moto Club and at Penya Rhin.

Then, Texidor went abroad and devoted himself there to another sport speciality, which he had cultivated here too: tennis.

He held several posts in France as coach, then moved to Belgium, where in Brussels, with Mr Narischkine, they have several "courts".

When the 24-hour race at Spa was announced, the two partners agreed to sign up with an old Alfa Romeo from 1926, 3.6 litres.

And with this old car the team Texi/Narischkine, took first place in the 4-litre category, after a tough race, in a way special for big cars given the characteristics of the circuit.

And so, it is like Pepe Texidor has made a brilliant re-entry into racing, winning one of the most important tests of speed and endurance.

Notes:

1. Pepe Texidor is my great uncle, 'Jose Maria Texidor y Catasus'.  (In the race he is under Jean Marie Texidor).
2. Vladimir Narichkine is his racing partner.
3. It appears they came 10th overall.  But came 1st in the 4-litre category.
4. The car number could be No. 22.
5. The car was an Alfa Romeo RLTF L6 3600cc
6. Martin Armangue is his brother-in-law, and was married to my great aunt, Maria Texidor Catasus.
7. It is reported that he taught tennis to the Belgian Royal Family.

The Children of Emilio Texidor Torres and Dolores Catasus Bues

Emilio and Dolores had 6 children.

• Jose Maria Texidor Catasus (May 1892, Barcelona - Jan 1974, Perpignan, France)
• Emilio Texidor Catasus (Sept 1893, Barcelona - Mar 1974, Barcelona, Spain)
• Maria de la Concepcion Texidor Catasus (Mar 1896, Barcelona - d.? Barcelona?, Spain)
• Antonio Texidor Catasus (Jun 1897, Barcelona - d.?, Carcassonne, France)
• Manuel Texidor Catasus (Mar 1901, Barcelona - Jun 1970, nr Abingdon, Oxon, UK)
• Maria de la Mercedes Texidor Catasus (May 1902, Barcelona - d.? Barcelona, Spain)

(There were two miscarriages between Emilio & Maria and Antonio & Manuel ...)

I didn't learn their full names until I was 36... not even my grandfather, Manuel... I knew him as 'Manuel Texidor' right up until I was about 32... I discovered his second surname, Catasus, from a book, the title of which I found a reference to in letters from him stored in the Special Collections department of Auckland University Library in New Zealand.

And I have now found the names of their children and discovered some of their grandchildren. My mother knew that some cousins existed ... but now I can say she has about 16 first cousins, not all of whom are still alive.

Every few months I discover yet another story about these brothers and sisters that is new ... I will post some information about what these siblings got up to.... they were the children of the arts/cultural generation. And yet they turned their hands to the more exciting products of the early 19th Century... National/International Sports... especially the very popular motorcycle and motorcar racing, tennis, skiing and so on. Their passion for these mostly new sports somewhat displaced them from the culturally accepted career paths... lawyer/doctor/cleric etc.

When their father, Emilio, died early, this provided yet another responsibility that slowed their careers. Emilio began to help his mother look after the shop, which was renamed to La Viuda de E. Texidor, and which was relocated to Ronda de Sant Pere. This responsibility was on top of his studies to become a doctor.

Manuel was sent off to Argentina to work in the Cork Industry... Jose went to Cuba, but soon returned and then moved to Paris and then Belgium.

After the Spanish Civil War the family had been split up and they were all living in different countries, Emilio, Maria, Mercedes in Spain; Jose and Antonio in France; and Manuel who moved from France to England.

More on their early lives later....

Casa Texidor

For several years I have been researching the Texidor family from Barcelona.

My grandfather is Manuel Maria Jose Texidor Catasus (known as Manolo Texidor), son of Emili Texidor Torres.

My great great grandfather was Josep Texidor Busquets an engineer and artist. He married Concepcion Torres Nicolas. Amongst their children were Modest, Josefa, Josep, Rosa, Antonio and Emili Texidor Torres.

Josefa was better known as "Pepita Texidor, the painter of flowers".

Emili died at the young age of ~50. The family shop he ran was maintained by his widow (Dolors Catasus Bues) as La Viuda de E. Texidor - (The Widow of E. Texidor). It is now an optician at Ronda de Sant Pere, 16, Barcelona. The original decor as designed by Manuel Joaquim Raspall i Mayol in 1911 and has been and still is preserved. At the back of the optician there is a montage of newspaper cuttings hanging on the wall that I was able to view.

More on these later.