An article
published in El Diario de Jerez in February 2014 by Juan P Simo
Throughout
its history, Sherry has had immense power, and the Sherry business has moved
all kinds of mountains, has built entire cities, has controlled the lives of
its people for centuries, ruined and swallowed up whole families, and brought
prosperity to generations of others. For that alone, the history of Jerez could
never be understood without its wine. And if many of those first captains of
industry, the first Sherry barons, went bust in the attempt, many others built
up fortunes enough to keep the next three or four generations going.
In Jerez
there have been incalculable fortunes. Imagine the legacy of Manuel Maria
Gonzalez Angel, founder and patriarch of Gonzalez Byass, or of his son, Pedro
Nolasco Gonzalez y Soto and of many other legendary names. Pedro Domecq
Lembeye, the first of the Domecqs to come to Jerez, left the “trifling” sum of
one million pounds to his brother Juan Pedro, not having any masculine heirs. {How
things have changed, thank goodness!} Or Juan Pedro Aladro, Pedro Domecq’s
adopted son, who died leaving a legacy of more than two million escudos. We could get lost in a sea of unbelievable
figures for the period.
William
Garvey Power already came from a line of aristocrats when he came from county
Waterford in Ireland to the bay of Cadiz in 1776. He set out with the idea of
acquiring some merino sheep for his father, when his ship was wrecked and he
was rescued by Captain Rafael Gomez, whose daughter he later married. Here he
spotted the enormous possibilities of the Bay of Cadiz, and changed his plans
to dedicate himself wholly to the wine business.
 |
| William Garvey, who started it all |
The “Garvey
Question” arose with his son Patrick (Patricio) Garvey Gomez, who married in
1826 Maria de los Angeles Capdepon y Lacoste, a young girl from a French family
with a large fortune, who would bear him eleven children. Only seven survived;
three boys and four girls. The sons were Guillermo, Patricio and Jose. Patricio
went on to marry Consolacion de la Mota Velasquez-Gaztelu, but Guillermo and
Jose remained bachelors.
Little is
known about Jose Garvey, who was born in Jerez and dedicated much of his work
to the family firm. On his death in 1912, and given his state of bachelorhood,
he made his will in favour of his nephews and nieces, Luis, Angeles and Blanca
Medina Garvey as well as to Angeles and Dolores San Juan Garvey, and on the
other side to Jose Lopez de Carrizosa, Marques del Merito, another of his
nephews.
What he
bequeathed amounted to a fortune of 42,152,777.37 pesetas {have you noticed how
the currency keeps changing?} which he possessed in English and Swiss banks, an
almost unimaginable fortune, but there was more; his deposits in Spanish banks
amounted to some 3,942,480.37 pesetas, a most respectable amount for those
days.
The problem
arose when Hacienda Española – the Spanish tax authority – opposed the legacy
being governed by English law as opposed to Spanish law. The case was complex
and certainly long drawn out, being published in El Parlamentario, which
followed it step by step during 1916 in the book “The Garvey Question: A Case
in Law”. Over three years, two hundred and fifty pages were filled, covering
the ins and outs of judicial hearings until the case ended up at the Supreme
Tribunal. Here, the Garvey case was corroborated, Jose Garvey was deemed to be a
British subject.
This was
not so much a fiscal case, but one of volition: the volition of a Jerezano,
Jose Garvey, who felt that he was a British subject, not a Spanish one. The
Spanish case was not unreasonable in that, unlike his father Patrick and his grandfather
William, he was a Jerezano by birth, and by dint of that he had felt obliged to
obey certain Spanish laws, including doing military service, and later, being
included in the electoral roll, casting votes.
It might be
concluded that these two matters would constitute overwhelming proof of his
being Spanish, but the Spanish authorities had never precluded anyone of
British nationality from serving in the army. The same authorities made a big
mistake, however, by including him, as a British subject, in the electoral
roll, meaning his votes were illegal.
Jose, just
like his father and grandfather, were British subjects, and were registered as
such at the British Consulate in Cadiz, the British Vice-Consulate in Jerez and
also at the Civil Government in Cadiz. Furthermore, the three of them travelled
on passports issued by British Consular agents, passports which had been
authorised by Spanish diplomats who had recognised them as British subjects. At
the same time, none of the Garveys had made any effort to become Spanish
subjects, so three generations of Garveys scrupulously held on to their British
nationality. They never renounced it nor made any effort to take Spanish
nationality.
The court’s
ruling was clear. The socialist MP Pablo Iglesias took it himself to the
Spanish Parliament. There was no reason for Hacienda to tax the inheritance of
a British subject. The Inland Revenue of Britain, however, was the winner, having
received annual income tax from Jose Garvey, seen by them too, as a British
subject. The Garvey legacy was paid out in England. Interestingly, the Garvey
family came from Ireland, not really Britain.
