Alajos Degré

Alajos Degré (Lippa, Hungary (today in Romania), 6 January 1819 – Budapest, 1 November 1896) was a Hungarian lawyer, legal historian, author, playwright 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: 12 February 1844) Eljegyzés álarc alatt – Pest, 1845 (premiere at the National Theatre: 14 April 1845) Félreismert lángész – Pest, 1846 (premiere at the National Theatre: 16 February 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