Francisco Ferrer Guardia (January 10 1849 - October 13 1909), often simply Francisco Ferrer was a Spanish free-thinker.
He was born in Allela (a small town near Barcelona) to catholic parents. A follower of Spanish republican leader Ruiz Zorilla , Ferrer was exiled to Paris with his wife and children in 1885. Divorcing in 1899, he remarried a wealthy parisian teacher shortly thereafter.
In 1901 he returned to Spain and opened la Escuela Moderna (The Modern School) to teach middle-class children (then) radical social values. In 1906 he was arrested on suspicion of involvement with an attack on King Alphonso XIII and released uncharged over a year later. His school failed and closed while he was incarcerated.
Following the declaration of martial law in 1909, he was arrested and executed by firing squad.
Shortly after his execution, numerous supporters of Ferrer's ideas in the United States formed what were called Modern Schools, or Ferrer Schools, modeled after la Escuela Moderna. The first and most notable Modern School was formed in New York City in 1911.
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