Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea

Guadalupe España y Araujo was granddaughter of José María Araujo, a Guadalajaran attorney-at-law, District Judge and Knight of the Imperial Order of Guadalupe (27 February 1865).

His father, Alberto Lancaster-Jones y Mijares (1873–1958) was a British-Mexican sugarcane entrepreneur and scientist.

His mother came from a family with a long tradition in the diplomatic service, politics, and the military.

Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea's early life passed between Guadalajara, Mexico City (where his paternal grandfather lived) and his family's Hacienda of Santa Cruz y El Cortijo (located in Zapotiltic, Jalisco).

When he turned 27 years old, he was asked to choose citizenship: he could have taken British nationality owing to his father's citizenship, but chose Mexican nationality.

Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea studied in Mexico (Instituto de Ciencias and Escuela Libre de Ingenieros, both in Guadalajara), and in the United States (St Charles College, Grand Coteau, Louisiana and the University of Dayton, Ohio).

Through her extended family, Luz Padilla y España was niece of: A) Carmen Padilla y Romo de Vivar, wife of the Guadalajaran academic and painter José Vizcarra (1874–1956). B) Sara España y Araujo, wife of Alfredo Navarro Branca (1881–1979), a famous Guadalajaran architect from post-revolutionary period; nowadays, among his buildings, the one of the Universidad de Guadalajara (1914) stands out.

During the course of his life, Lancaster-Jones participated in some diplomatic activities with the United States, El Salvador, the United Nations and the Holy See:

According to Leopoldo I. Orendain (1898–1972), Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea was a "real Connoisseur" whose enthusiasm as an art collector brought him to become advisor to several governors of Jalisco and various businessmen who sought for his help during the formation of their own collections of art.

He was also a referee in testamentary appraisals.

Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea, MA BE KHS (9 February 1905 – 20 January 1983 ) was a Mexican historian and scholar who made significant contributions toward the study of the haciendas of the State of Jalisco (Mexico) in the twentieth century.

Arcadio Padilla y Romo de Vivar was a well-known Guadalajaran attorney-at-law who also was Mexico's National Railroads representative in Mexico City (1920–1935), and the State of Jalisco's Senior Deputy to Mexico's National Congress (1928–1930).

Then, he continued with the PhD studies under the guidance of Donald C. Cutter (1922–2014), emeritus professor of history at University of New Mexico from 1976 until 1978, then, his health broke down.

He earned a Topographical Engineering degree at the Escuela Libre de Ingenieros de Jalisco (1928) and a Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree at the University of Dayton (1929).

As the eldest child of his family, he entered the sugarcane business in 1930 at the already mentioned Ingenio Santa Cruz y El Cortijo, where he made important contributions until 1942.

Beginning in 1934, Lancaster-Jones wrote for the Gaceta de Guadalajara magazine, later becoming a contributing journalist for the El Informador newspaper.

He continued writing for different magazines and newspapers from Guadalajara and Mexico City, such as Crónica Social Tapatía, El Mundo, Estudios Históricos, Excélsior, El Occidental, et al.

In Guadalajara, on 28 October 1935, Ricardo Lancaster-Jones married Luz Padilla y España (5 April 1913 – 5 March 1978); the wedding reception was held at the Verea y Vallarta's mansion in Guadalajara (nowadays, this building is the seat of the Congress of Jalisco).

In 1944, he became a member of the board of directors of Ingenio Tamazula (a sugar refinery located in Tamazula de Gordiano, Jalisco).

In 1946, he was founding member of Sociedad de Ingenieros y Arquitectos de Guadalajara (Engineers and Architects Society of Guadalajara) serving as general manager since 1949.

Lancaster-Jones was the first person, since 1948, to question the authenticity of a group of six paintings elaborated on copper sheet, attributed to Rubens and that are in the collection of the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos (Jalisco).

In 1949 he founded – along with Salvador Gutiérrez Contreras – the Sociedad de Amigos de Compostela and was its General Secretary.

Then, in 1950 he became a member of the board of directors of Banco Industrial de Jalisco.

In 1952 the Governor of the State of Jalisco, José Jesús González Gallo (1900–1957), appointed Lancaster-Jones as Curator of the Museo Regional de Guadalajara, serving this post until 31 December 1953.

During the two years he was in office, he reorganized the exhibition rooms, commanded the restoration of priceless works of art, and made a detailed inventory of the various museum collections.

In 1953 he established the Sociedad Oaxaqueña de Genealogía y Heráldica, being its Honorary President.

In 1954, Lancaster-Jones gave more than a dozen photos to Paul Alexander Bartlett, depicting the haciendas Santa Cruz and El Cortijo (Jalisco) from 1880 to 1940, contributing to Bartlett's large-scale study of more than 350 haciendas throughout Mexico that Bartlett conducted between 1943 and 1985.

Nowadays, these photographs are kept in the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.

On 18 February 1955, Luz Padilla y España was named Dame of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Luz Padilla y España was the eldest child of Arcadio Padilla y Romo de Vivar, and of Guadalupe España y Araujo.

In 1955 he established the Sociedad de Amigos de Tecolotlán, being its General Secretary.

His enthusiasm for history led him to become a professor of Regional History at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara in 1965.

In 1965 Antonio Leaño Álvarez del Castillo (1913–2010), Rector and Chairman of the Board of Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, appointed Ricardo Lancaster-Jones as professor of regional history at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters.

Later on, in 1973, he earned his MA degree in Latin American Studies at the University of New Mexico.

Ricardo Lancaster-Jones y Verea born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, to Alberto Lancaster-Jones y Mijares and Isabel Verea y Vallarta.

Lancaster-Jones was included by Luis González y González among the notable historians of the second half of the 20th century in Mexico (1973).

In 1973 Lancaster-Jones earned his M.A. in Latin American Studies at University of New Mexico with the thesis Haciendas de Jalisco y aledaños: fincas rústicas de antaño, 1506–1821 (published in Mexico the next year as Haciendas de Jalisco y Aledaños (1506-1821)).

After he recovered his health in late 1978, he didn't continued with the PhD degree due to personal reasons.

Her La mujer en la historia de Jalisco was awarded in 1996 by the Government of the State of Jalisco.

Another noted disciple of Lancaster-Jones was Áurea Zafra Oropeza (died 11 August 2010, Guadalajara), among whose publications are Agustín Rivera y Agustín de la Rosa ante la filosofía novohispana (Sociedad Jalisciense de Filosofía, Guadalajara, 1994) and Las cofradías de Cocula (Agata, Guadalajara, 1996).