John Paget (author)

John Paget (18 April 1808 – 10 April 1892) was an English agriculturist and author on Hungary.

Life and works

Paget was born in Loughborough,.[1] He was educated at the Unitarian Manchester College at York, and then read medicine. He travelled extensively in Europe. He married the Hungarian Baroness Polyxena Wesselenyi Banffy (née de Hadad), divorced wife of Baron Ladislaus Banffy, on 15 November 1836. He lived on his wife's estate in Transylvania, developing the farming there with an "improved" breed of cow, and campaigning for improvements to agriculture. His diary,[2] in six volumes, is in Hungary's National Museum. Volumes 1-5 contain observations on natural history around Europe. Volume 6 records Hungary's 1849 war of independence, in which Paget took part.[3]

He is known for his 1839 book Hungary and Transylvania.[4]

In 1878 after the World Exhibition in Paris he was given the cross of the Legion of Honour.[5]

He died in Ghiriş (then called Gyeres) and is buried in the Hajongard Cemetery in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Sources stating Thorpe Satchville are wrong; his family moved there only in 1821; cf: Kovács Sándor (2008). "Kétszáz éve született John Paget, Erdély magyar honpolgára" (PDF). Keresztény Magvető 114 (2): 205–206.
  2. ↑ Madden, Henry Miller (1939–1940). "The Diary of John Paget". The Slavonic and East European Review 19 (53/54): 237–264.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Paget Family". Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  4. ↑ Paget, John (1850). Hungary and Transylvania (new ed.). Lea Blanchard. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ Kovács Sándor (2008). "Kétszáz éve született John Paget, Erdély magyar honpolgára" (PDF). Keresztény Magvető 114 (2): 208.