Károly Bérczy

Born in Balassagyarmat in 1821 and originally named Stand Károly, he later used the name Károly Bérczy. He studied law and worked in the Royal Hungarian Lieutenancy Council, and from 1847 served in the transport department under István Széchenyi, acting as his secretary.

After leaving office because of illness, he turned to journalism and literary work. He belonged to the Tízek Társasága, took part in the 1848–49 revolution and war of independence, and later worked for important newspapers including Politikai Újdonságok and Pesti Napló. In 1857 he launched what is described as the first Hungarian-language sports paper, Lapok a lovászat és vadászat köréből.

Bérczy was a writer, poet, editor, and translator, and a friend as well as the first biographer of Imre Madách. His translations became a lasting part of his reputation: he translated works by Charles Dickens, and his Hungarian version of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin helped popularize the poem from 1866 onward. He was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1859 and died in Pest in 1867.