José María Esquerdo

José María Esquerdo Zaragoza (2February 184230January 1912) was a Spanish psychiatrist, physician, and Republican politician. He was the leader of the Progressive Republican Party from 1895 until his death in 1912. He is noted as a pioneer in the introduction of modern psychiatric treatments in Spain. He completed his medical training at the San Carlos Hospital of Madrid, though it is unclear whether he began his education there or at the University of Valencia. Following the 1868 Glorious Revolution, he became the chair of pathology and director of the clinic of mental diseases at the General Hospital of Madrid.

Esquerdo ran again as a candidate for Madrid to the Congress of Deputies as part of a joint Republican ticket named "Unión Republicana" at the 1893 general election. This time, he won the seat with a plurality of the vote.

Following the death of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla in 1895, Esquerdo became the leader of the Progressive Republican Party.

Esquerdo vied as the Republican–Socialist Conjunction (CRS) candidate for Madrid at the 1910 general election and again earned a seat at the Congress of Deputies. He received 41,939 votes and ranked as the second-most voted candidate in the capital, after his fellow Republican Benito Pérez Galdós. He participated in the Central Committee of the CRS meetings, where he grew closer to the faction favoring collaboration with the government, which was represented by Melquíades Álvarez and Gumersindo de Azcárate. He died on 30 January 1912 in his Madrid home. The Progressive Republican Party was dissolved soon after his death.