Who was Gáspár Noszlopy?

Gáspár Noszlopy was born to Antal Noszlopy and Júlia Szeniczei Bárány at Vrácsik in Somogy county on 17th August 1820. He came from a gentry family and had a large piece of land and a country house at what is known as Újvárfalva today. Gáspár studied law, then worked as a notary, later as a sheriff in the Marcali district. In September 1848, following the attack led by Jellasics he was one of the main leaders of the uprising against Croatian border guards. In his first battle he defeated a smaller troop. During the winter campaign the elderly Marshal Laval Nugent was sent to stop the uprising. Gáspár escaped with his elder brother, Antal, and the government as well to Debrecen.

During the spring campaign he persuaded Kossuth that he could free Transdanubia through an uprising similar to the one in the autumn of 1848, so on 1st May he marched into Kaposvár, then he cleared Somogy and Tolna of Nugent’s troops. He was promoted to the rank of major in June 1849 and was charged with defending the entire Transdanubia. However, he was unable to keep back the imperial superial power. He also helped organise the defence of the castle in Komárom and gathered soldiers in the Bakony mountains against the imperial forces. After the War of Independence Haynau’s detachments and the authorities launched a manhunt to find him but they could catch him only in April 1850.

He was court-martialled and was sentenced to death but he managed to escape in the end. He didn’t give up fighting the imperial forces. He was captured again for a second and third time. Finally, he and two of his fellow men were hanged in Pest in March 1853.

Following his death Gáspár Noszlopy became one of the most famous martyrs who had earned most of his merits during the war of independence. Kossuth called him ’the bravest man of the 19th century’.