Alajos Degré

Alajos Degré (Lippa, Hungary (today in Romania), January 6, 1819 – Budapest, November 1, 1896) was Hungarian lawyer, legal historian, author and one of the key figures of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

Life
He was born to a middle-class, urban family. His father was a Frenchman who worked as the chief physician of Temes County, Hungary. His mother was Anna Rácz, the raised daughter of a Hungarian nobleman, György Návay. He had a half-brother, Ignác from his father's first marriage and a sister, Franciska. Because of his father's early death Temes County took over the costs of the education of the Degré children. He did his secondary-school studies in Arad and Szeged. Then he went to Nagyvárad where he studied law for two years. In 1842 he started to work as a jurist in Pest where he got interested in politics and made friends with Lajos Kossuth. The liberal ideas inflamed his thinking so he joined these political circles and took part on their events where he was asked to hold a welcome speech for Kossuth. In 1843 he took the attorney's examination and moved to Pozsony (today Bratislava, Slovakia) to work as a royal board notary at the National Assembly of Hungary.

Personal life
He was married to Amália Anna Koller. They had together seven children – four daughters and three sons:
 * Erzsébet
 * Miklós
 * Katalin
 * Etel
 * Andor (1869–1939)
 * Éva
 * Lajos (1882–1915)

Works

 * Iparlovag – Pozsony, 1844 (premiere at the National Theatre: February 12)
 * Eljegyzés álarc alatt – Pest, 1845 (premiere at the National Theatre: April 14, 1845)
 * Félreismert lángész – Pest, 1846 (premiere at the National Theatre: February 16, 1846)
 * Kedélyrajzok – Pest, 1847
 * Két év egy ügyvéd életéből – Pest, 1853
 * Degré Alajos Novellái – Pest, 1854
 * Kalandornő – Pest, 1854
 * Salvator Rosa – Pest, 1855
 * A sors keze – Pest, 1856
 * Novellák – Pest, 1857
 * Az ördög emlékiratai – Pest, 1860
 * A száműzött leánya – Pest, 1865
 * A kék vér – Pest, 1870
 * A nap hőse – Pest, 1870. Két kötet
 * Itthon – Budapest, 1877. Két kötet
 * Az elzárt gyámleány – Budapest, 1878
 * Bőkezű uzsorás – Budapest, 1882
 * Visszaemlékezéseim – Budapest, 1883–1884
 * Így van jól! – Budapest, 1887

Literature

 * József Szinnyei József: Magyar írók élete és munkái II, Budapest, 1893.
 * Ernő Vende : Irodalom, tudomány és művészet