PABLO LARIOS AND THE ROYAL CALPE HUNT AS MARKERS OF TRANSBORDER ACTIVITIES BETWEEN GIBRALTAR AND SPAIN DURING THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

This article discusses the social and political networks set up during the late nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth for the benefit of the Royal Calpe Hunt. The Hunt was a military fox hunt based in Gibraltar but, given the geographical limitations on the Rock, hunting would take place in the Campo de Gibraltar. The Calpe Hunt was, by its very nature, a very visual and audible representation of Englishness, a military affair, and one reminiscent of an imperial pursuit. Such was the spectacle that it was impossible to have ridden across the frontier unperceived or unheard. Neither could they have hunted over Spanish country without a considerable degree of cooperation from landowners. Access was a central concern and a major gatekeeper to hunting grounds in Spain was Pablo Larios, Marques de Marzales (1862-1938), who, as Master of the Hunt, became responsible for the establishment networks between Gibraltar and Spain.