Ferenc Kossuth
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Ferenc Kossuth | |
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Minister of Trade of Hungary | |
In office 8 April 1906 – 17 January 1910 | |
Preceded by | László Vörös |
Succeeded by | Károly Hieronymi |
Personal details | |
Born | Pest, Kingdom of Hungary | 16 November 1841
Died | 25 May 1914 Budapest, Austria-Hungary | (aged 72)
Political party | Party of Independence and '48 |
Spouse(s) | Emily Hoggins (until 1887) Mária Kvassay de Brassó et Brogyán (1914) |
Profession | engineer, politician |
Signature | |
Ferenc Lajos Ákos Kossuth de Udvard et Kossuthfalva (16 November 1841 – 25 May 1914) was a Hungarian civil engineer and politician.
Biography
[edit]The son of Hungarian revolutionary Lajos Kossuth, Ferenc was educated at the Paris Polytechnic and the London University, where in 1859 he won a prize for political economy. After working as a civil engineer on the Forest of Dean Central Railway, he went (1861) to Italy, where he resided for the next 33 years, taking a considerable part in the railway construction of the peninsula, including the Fréjus rail tunnel, and at the same time keeping alive the Hungarian independence question by a whole series of pamphlets and newspaper articles.
At Cesena in 1876 he married Emily Hoggins. She died in 1887 and is buried at Cimitero degli Allori, Florence. The monument reads: "Sacred to the dearly loved memory of the n.d. Emily of Kossuth and Udvard, erected by Francis Kossuth, her broken-hearted husband whose darling, she was in life and is in death."
In 1885, he was decorated for his services by the Italian government. His last great engineering work was the construction of the steel bridges for the Nile. In 1894, he escorted his father's remains to Hungary, and the following year resolved to settle in his native land and took the oath of allegiance.[1] As early as 1867, he had been twice elected a member of the Hungarian diet, but on both occasions refused to accept the mandate. On 10 April 1895, he was returned for Tapolca and in 1896 for Cegléd, and from that time took an active part in Hungarian politics. In the autumn of 1898 he became the leader of the obstructionists or "Independence Party", against the successive Dezső Bánffy, Kálmán Széll, Károly Khuen-Héderváry and István Tisza administrations (1898–1904), exercising great influence not only in parliament but upon the public at large through his articles in the Egyetértés.[citation needed]
The elections of 1905 having sent his party back with a large majority, he was received in audience by the king and helped to construct the Sándor Wekerle ministry, in which he was Minister of Commerce.[2] In his cabinet role, Kossuth had many opportunities of turning to account his technical and economic experience. At the critical period of the Coalition, he showed throughout solid ability, in contrast to Gyula Justh, who in 1909 brought about the break-up of the Independence Party, which split into the Kossuth and the Justh wings.
In consequence of increasing ill-health, Kossuth withdrew more and more from active politics, and only appeared in Parliament on special occasions. When in the summer of 1913 the two wings of the Independence Party were again united, Count Mihály Károlyi undertook their actual leadership. In articles published in the Budapest, Kossuth continued to express his views. He made his last appearance in Parliament on 30 October 1913. From his bed of sickness, to which he was confined from the autumn of 1913 onwards, he declined any participation with Károlyi against the Triple Alliance policy of the dual monarchy.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Klimó, Árpád von (2003). Nation, Konfession, Geschichte : zur nationalen Geschichtskultur Ungarns im europäischen Kontext (1860-1948). München: R. Oldenbourg. ISBN 3-486-56746-2. OCLC 52645721.
- ^ Geyr, Géza Andreas von (1993). Sándor Wekerle, 1848-1921 : die politische Biographie eines ungarischen Staatsmannes der Donaumonarchie. München: Oldenbourg. ISBN 3-486-56037-9. OCLC 29344442.
References
[edit]- public domain: "Kossuth, Ferencz Lajos Akos". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Eduard von Wertheimer (1922). "Kossuth, Francis". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 31 (12th ed.).
External links
[edit]- Works by or about Ferenc Kossuth at the Internet Archive
- Media related to Ferenc Kossuth at Wikimedia Commons
- 1841 births
- 1914 deaths
- Burials at Kerepesi Cemetery
- Engineers from Budapest
- Members of the National Assembly of Hungary
- Trade ministers of Hungary
- Alumni of the University of London
- Kossuth family
- People from Pest, Hungary
- Children of prime ministers of Hungary
- Engineers from Austria-Hungary
- Politicians from Austria-Hungary
- Children of heads of state