page_title: José María de Orbe y Gaytán
section_title: In the shadow of own father (1876-1891)
hierarchical_section_title: José María de Orbe y Gaytán / In the shadow of own father (1876-1891)
caption_attribution_description: Español: Militar carlista
context_page_description: José María de Orbe y Gaytán de Ayala, 5th Marquess of Valde-Espina, 1st Viscount of Orbe was a Spanish Carlist soldier and politician. His career climaxed during presidency of the provincial Gipuzkoan self-government in the 1910s, though he is known mostly as member of the iconic Basque Valde-Espina dynasty. In the party ranks he rose to provincial leader in Gipuzkoa and was briefly member of the national Carlist executive.
context_section_description: Orbe accompanied his king to Bordeaux and then to London. Carlos VII apparently enjoyed his company and wanted Orbe to join him on the voyage to America, but the adjutant asked for the permission to excuse himself; he planned to get married. Granted authorization he indeed wed and settled in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, throughout 1877 his public activity reduced to sending letters of adhesion to various Traditionalist initiatives. It is not clear when he returned to Spain; his first child was born in 1879 already in Ermua. His father is reported as settling back in 1880, immediately assuming key position of Carlist "advanced sentry" in the Vascongadas. As Orbe was hardly known for anything else than his wartime deeds, prestigious parentage and newspaper-published letters, he was banking on popularity of his father when running in local elections to the Biscay diputación from Durango in 1883. Apparently successful at the polls, he got his ticket cancelled on legal grounds.
  At the time Carlist structures in Vascongadas were in disarray; reconstruction proceeded with visible difficulty. Due to lack of recognized personalities and scarce interest of the others, in 1884 Orbe was considered a candidate to head the entire Biscay organization, but the plan was eventually abandoned. Similarly, in 1886 he was supposed to assume leadership of the Marquina district, again to no avail. At that time his father, who formally emerged as the Carlist leader for the entire Vascongadas, was still struggling to re-build appropriate organization; in wake of petty conflicts in its Biscay branch, controlled by José de Acillona, in 1886 Orbe was again asked to become emergency candidate to diputación, this time from Guernica. Following apparently successful campaign, he was again ruled out. The year of 1887 was dedicated mostly to accompanying Carlos VII during his another voyage to America; exact details are not clear and it is not known whether Orbe was with his king in Haiti, Barbados, Jamaica, Panama, Chile, Uruguay and Brasil; he was recorded at least in Buenos Aires. 
  In the 1880s Carlism was increasingly divided between supporters of the Nocedals and supporters of the claimant. The Orbe family clearly sided with the latter; when Circulo Católico Vascongado, a network serving as Biscay Carlist front organization, was increasingly taken over by the Nocedalistas, their opponents launched a competitive Sociedad Tradicionalista. In 1887 Orbe entered its Biscay Junta Directiva and following the 1888 Integrist breakup continued to work towards recovery of loyalist structures; within its ranks he rose to jefe of the Marquina district, though its organization remained largely on paper. His third attempt to run for the provincial self-government proved successful; elected from Guernica, in 1889-1890 he served as member of Diputación Provincial de Vizcaya, finally acquiring a recognized political standing. His emergence from the shadow of own father was confirmed when in 1891 he succeeded him as alcalde of Ermua; finally, following death of already iconic parent, José María was confirmed as the 5th marqués de Valde-Espina in 1892.
caption: Juan N. Orbe Mariaca
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