Sánchez was born in Piedrabuena, Ciudad Real, Spain, on 4 May 1880. His family owned a small tile and brick plant, and his mother took in laundry, which she washed in an area of the river known as the Tabla de la Yedra. He was the youngest of four children and helped his mother with the washing. At that time (data from 1900), Piedrabuena had a population of 3,810, 75% of whom were illiterate, and had a poor rural economy based on unirrigated cereal crops and animal farming.
