Kálmán Tóth

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The native form of this personal name is Tóth Kálmán. This article uses the Western name order.

Kálmán Tóth (1831 – 1891) was a Hungarian poet of the 19th century. He was born in Baja. The main theme of his poetry was love, and the folk.

He studied at the Franciscan Gimnasium (now Béla III High School) in Baja, between 1839 and 1845. Tóth was the best student of his class. He was a novice for a short time, but he began to learn law. Kálmán took part in the 1848 Hungarian Revolution.

After the failure of the Hungarian revolution, he raised the national self-confidence, cherished the ideas of the revolution and remembered the heroes as a poet. He became the sub-editor of Ignác Nagy's Hölgyfutár (English: Ladies' Courier). He was appointed to be the accountable editor of the journal between 1856 and 1861.

In 1860, Tóth launched the Bolond Miska (English: Crazy Michael), a political newspaper. From 1864, he became the editor of the Fővárosi Lapok (English: Metropolitan Sheets). His writings frequently appeared, and his dramas were played in the National Theatre.

He was elected to be the parliamentary delegate of his home town in 1865. Through four cycles, he fought for the revolution ideas in the Parliament. Tóth took part in raising Baja to a city with municipal rights, helped to found Eötvös József College, and demanded to connect Baja to the national railroad system.

He lost on the elections in 1878. The frustration of him caused his intellectual decadence. Kálmán Tóth died at the age of sixty.

Baja was proud of his son, so the city erected a monument in the honour of him. The monument is at Kálmán Tóth Square.