Death from a Broken Heart; Baron Farkas Kemény. (1797–1852) Kensal Green Cemetery

 

'Tis strange the mind, that very fiery particle,

Should let itself be snuff'd out by an article.

                                                                                   Lord Byron. Don Juan, XI, st. 60

Byron’s sardonic couplet on the death of Keats was prompted by Leigh Hunt’s claim that a critical review of ‘Endymion’, in the Quarterly Review, was responsible for the poet’s death. Byron may have found it ludicrous that wounded amour-propre could prove fatal but far more robust temperaments than the author of an ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ have succumbed to assaults on their self-esteem. Take the Baron Farkas Kemény, a man of mature years, a man of the world, battle hardened and stoical in the face of adversity, who had lost his fortune and his place in society fighting for the liberation his country and now lived in exile, in poverty, in London. Kemény, who had once, at the battle for Piski Bridge, held off a superior force of 15,000 Imperial Austrian troops with a ragtail regiment of 1100 irregular soldiers and 100 Hussars, and who had, more than once, saved the life of his commanding officer, General Józef Bem, was dealt his fatal blow by an article in the Daily News casting aspersions upon his honour and financial integrity. The offending article, an open letter written by a supposed friend of Hungary, the lawyer and political theorist Joshua Toulmin Smith, questioned what Kemény had done with £520, raised by charity and provided to him for the relief of fellow Hungarian refugees. Reading the piece at his lodgings in Foley Place, Fitzrovia, the Baron had collapsed into the arms of his secretary, begging him to call for assistance. By the time help was summoned, he was already dead. At the inquest the coroner Thomas Wakely said that he had never seen “a clearer case in which a poor creature had died of a broken heart”, his life it seems, like Keats’, also snuffed out by an article. 

The Hungarian patriot is buried at Kensal Green where I had stumbled across his grave whilst exploring an out of the way area of the cemetery. The headstone was odd, a red granite upright that looked modern but had the epitaph;

To the Memory
of
Baron W. Kemény
Colonel in the Hungarian army
1848 and 1849.
He lived a Patriot, died an Exile
in 1852, aged 56.
Erected by his friends
LLMRZ

If, as the inscription claimed, the headstone was erected by his friends then it had to be at least 150 years old. But that didn’t seem right, it was too modern looking. The anomaly made the Baron and his headstone stick in my memory, so that when I received an enquiry about the location of the grave from a cemetery pilgrim in Romania earlier this year, I still remembered Kemény and where in the cemetery he was. My pilgrim was from the Szeklerland, an area of Transylvania that has, dictated by the whims of history, been ruled alternatively by Hungary and Romania for the last 100 years and is still predominantly populated by ethnic Hungarians. She is a highly successful business woman and, she said, a distant descendant of the Baron. She was planning to come to England to visit his final resting place. As I couldn’t be there on the planned day of the visit I provided maps and verbal instructions on how to find the grave but the area is overgrown and the headstone cunningly hidden in a clearing amongst trees and shrubs and not really visible from the paths. On the day the maps helped locate the general area but the grave itself proved to be frustratingly elusive. At the point where the pilgrim’s party were about to give up a saviour appeared in the form of one of the General Cemetery Company’s ground staff.

“Are you looking for a Hungarian hero?” he asked them, apparently telepathic, and when they said yes, showed them the way to the Baron’s headstone, talking non-stop on the way about the cemetery and history, speaking so rapidly they barely understood a word.  Nevertheless they were extremely grateful. The cemetery pilgrim especially; “I have done this big trip to London, just because I've been feeling for a while that I have to do it,” she told me, “I have done it for the peace of my soul.” Some peoples need to connect with the past, to seek out the dead, to stand on the patch of earth where their body was buried 200 years ago, is so strong that they will travel hundred, even thousands of miles to do it, often at great inconvenience to themselves. And in many cases the end of the journey is nothing remarkable, an overgrown graveyard, a modest memorial, an illegible inscription, marking the place where the deceased were lowered into the earth all those years ago. I have done it myself; I jumped at the chance to visit Geneva a couple of years ago when the only thing that interested me in the city of clocks and conventions was the grave of Jorge Luis Borges and I left my dying father’s bedside on a snow bound winters morning to go to the grave of Ian Curtis.

The Battle of Piski by Wilhelm Hahn

 

Baron Farkas Kemény was born in 1797 in Transylvania (then still part of the Hapsburg Empire), the descendant of an old Hungarian noble family who had originally been granted their titles and estates by the legendary Magyar ruler Árpád in the late 9th century.  His family had been prominent in the Hungarian struggles against the Turks and after completing his education at the Protestant High-school in Great Enyad, the Baron followed family tradition by joining the army, becoming an officer in the 8th regiment of Kienmoyer Hussars, and taking part in the Napoleonic Wars. In his Sketches in Remembrance of the Hungarian Struggle for Independence published in 1853, J. Constantin  Kastner says that although the Baron was “in the Austrian service, he was nevertheless a true Hungarian in heart; and upon advancing in years, his conviction grew stronger and stronger, that the Austrian army was nothing but a machine in the hands of an arbitrary power, only employed to crush constitutional life and liberty”. In 1825 he resigned from military service and retired for a while to his estates in the Transylvanian countryside. Nine years later he came out of retirement to enter into politics; in 1834 he was returned as a radical deputy to the Transylvania Diet. He was a supporter of the reforms made in April 1848 when Hungary became the third country in Europe to implement democratic parliamentary elections (after revolutionary France in 1791 and conservative Belgium in 1831). Filled with nationalistic zeal the Transylvanian Diet voted in May to reunite their territory with Hungary; when the Austrian Emperor (and King of Hungary) Franz Joseph I revoked the April reforms the Transylvanians sided with Hungary in the revolutionary war that broke out and Baron Kemény immediately enlisted on the side of the rebels. 

The Baron fought under General Józef Bem who had been entrusted by the Hungarian leader, Lajos Kossuth, with the defence of Transylvania. The Baron’s most glorious exploit was the defence of the Bridge at Piski to help cover the retreat of the main army after a defeat at Viz-Akna. Bem told his colonel "the bridge of Piski is Transylvania herself; if the bridge is lost, Transylvania is lost!" Facing Austrians of 15,000 the Baron, with 1,100 irregular foot soldiers, 100 hussars, and just 7 guns, fought for 36 hours without moving his position. He then ordered a charge of bayonets and, astounded at seeing the Austrians retreat, sent two companies of infantry to try and outflank them. The panicking Austrians abandoned their ammunition wagons and then raised the white flag. Assuming the enemy was ready to surrender the Baron rode out to them and ordered them to lay down their arms. The Austrians demanded to know to whom they were talking and the Baron told them "I am General Bem!" Instead of surrendering the Austrian troops surrounded the Baron and were about to take him prisoner. The baron had other ideas however, he unsheathed his sword and cut a way through the ranks of Imperial soldiers and succeeded in making it back to his own lines, where he gave the order to renew the assault on the Austrians. The Baron and his irregulars held the bridge until General Bem arrived with reinforcements.   

The battle of Piski by Theodor Breitwieser

As well as compiling the Sketches, J. Constantin  Kastner also commissioned the artist Wilhelm Hahn to produce a drawing of the defence of the bridge at Piski and Day & Son, ‘lithographers to the  Queen’ to print it. Kastner was personally acquainted with Kemény and so we can assume that the diminutive Colonel standing on top of one of the bridge piers urging on his men, is a reasonable likeness of the Baron. As well as his relatively short stature we are also struck by the Baron’s age, he is clearly a man well into his fifties. Bushy eyebrowed with a walrus moustache, his eyes are bagged with exhaustion yet he holds out his unsheathed sabre and points his men forward. He also ignores the grenade exploding at his feet.  His troops are the epitome of burgher solidity; if it weren’t for the bandolier style straps of their rucksacks, the water bottles and rifles, they would look like they had just finished off a day in the office of the Town Hall or the bank.  Day & Son must have had other Hungarian connections  because in 1861 they printed a run of bank notes for Kossuth who was still living in exile but trying to establish a Hungarian currency. The Imperial Government of Austria took both Kossuth and Day & Son to court accused of levying financial war upon the emperor. The lithographers were ordered to surrender the notes to the bank of England, where they were burnt.    

Following the ultimate failure of the 1848-49 War of Independence the Baron went into exile, first in Paris and then in London, where Kossuth left him in charge of the Hungarian refugees after his triumphant visit to England in October and November 1851. As soon as Kossuth had gone the Baron found himself drawn into a row about money raised by the Hungarian committee. When the baron told the committee that many refugees were still in want the lawyer and writer Joshua Toulmin Smith, who was a member of the committee, was sceptical.  Dudley Coutts Stuart, an MP and the son of the Marquess of Bute, who was the President of the Committee, would not entertain Toulmin Smith’s doubts and so the lawyer placed them before the public in the form of an open letter to the Daily News which named Kemeny and could be read as implying that he had been completely honest. Coutts Stuart responded on behalf of the committee and gave the Baron his full backing as well as refuting Toulmin Smith’s allegations. But the war of words rumbled on, with further letters in the newspapers. On Monday the 5th January the Baron was steeling himself to read the latest salvo from Toulmin Smith when he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was wisely reported by the newspapers as being 63 years old at the time of death but according to his headstone he was only 56.  The Sun (London) of Friday 09 January gave a full account of the inquest into the Baron’s death;

DEATH OF AN HUNGARIAN REFUGEE.

Yesterday an inquest held before Mr. T. Wakley, M.P., and a respectable jury, at the Yorkshire Grey Tavern, Foley -place, Marylebone, on view of the body of the Baron Farkas Kemeny, aged 63, formerly a colonel in the Hungarian service, whose death occurred under the awful and melancholy circumstances subjoined. The deceased, who had distinguished himself as a soldier, had fought under General Bem, and once, while defending the bridge of Piske, in Transylvania, with 2,000 men and seven guns, is said to have defeated 14,000 Austrians and 30 guns.

Mr. John Prohatzki, proprietor of the Hungarian fur depot, No. 12, Foley place, stated that the deceased Baron had for about twelve months occupied apartments in his house, in the general enjoyment of good health and spirits. Between ten and eleven o'clock on Monday morning last deceased returned Lome from posting a letter, and joining witness in his countinghouse, conversed with him, but not in his usual manner, there seeming to be something on his mind. Shortly afterwards deceased's secretary entered the passage, and deceased followed him up stairs, but scarcely had five minutes elapsed before the secretary came running to witness saying, "The baron has fainted." Witness returned with him, and found the deceased lying on the drawing-room floor insensible. Having procured some water to bathe his face and temples, he sent his wife for Mr. Geldard, a surgeon in the neighbourhood, who immediately atter his arrival pronounced him to be dead. The deceased had lately appeared very dull.

Sigismund Vekey stated that he was secretary to the late baron, who had latterly been much excited by letters appearing in the public newspapers, which he considered personal to himself, and injurious to the Hungarian cause, signed "Toulmin Smith." On Sunday afternoon last he went to Highgate, with the baron's knowledge and approval, to see Mr. Smith, and point out the mischief of such communications, when that gentleman said that he should pursue the theme, but not so much against the baron as against the Hungarians, and on his return to town in the evening he visited the deceased, and repeated the conversation. On Monday morning about ten o'clock he went to the deceased's, and on first seeing him saw that he was more excited than he had ever before noticed. The baron quickly asked him if any articles appeared against him in that day's papers, to which he replied, "Yes, but no so strongly;" and the deceased, who stood before him, rejoined, "Read it." Having the Daily News with him, in which a letter from Mr. Smith was inserted as an advertisement, and addressed to the editor, he commenced reading, but had not proceeded far before the deceased fell forward on his (witness's) breast, and from thence on the floor, exclaiming, "Oh, call for assistance." Being greatly alarmed, he immediately fetched the list witness, by whom what further transpired has been explained.

Mr. John Geldard, surgeon, No. 34, Great Portland street, said that he was called to attend the deceased, who seemed in a fainting state. He endeavoured to administer some stimulants, when deceased gasped once and expired. He had since made a post mortem examination of the body, and found the brain sound, but slightly congested. There was no effusion in the membranes or ventricles, and no disease whatever existed. The lungs were healthy, and there was no extravasation or effusion of the pleura. In the pericardium he found 1 ½ oz. of coagulated blood, which had escaped from the heart through a rupture in that organ, both ventricles and the valves of which, however, were in a perfectly healthy state. Death had resulted from the rupture of the heart.

The CORONER remarked that to him there never appeared a clearer case in which a poor creature had died of a broken heart than that, and which verdict, had he been one of the jury, he should have felt bound to return. The deceased was anxiously listening to what was being read to him by his secretary, fearing and expecting what might be presently said applying to himself, his heart all the time beating violently, and making powerful efforts to get through its bonds, till at length it swelled and burst. He wished Mr. Smith had been present, although he could not be blamed for deceased's death, for thank God, the press of England was free, and he hoped never to see it otherwise; yet, although persons could write what they thought proper, they were liable if they violated the law. The jury, after some consultation, having unanimously expressed an opinion that the primary cause of deceased's death was a broken heart, returned the following verdict:—" That the deceased died from the mortal effects of a rupture of the heart, and the jurors further say that the said rupture was caused by the sudden emotion of his mind by the reading of part of a letter which appeared in the Daily News of the 5th inst.

Toulmin Smith's fatal letter to the Daily News

The Baron was buried in Kensal Green on Sunday the 11th January in a grave paid for by Dudley Coutts Stuart. This account of the funeral is from the Morning Advertiser of Monday 12 January 1852;

FUNERAL OF THE GALLANT COLONEL BARON KEMENY,

At three o’clock yesterday the mortal remains of the brave, chivalrous, and generous Baron Kemeny, President of the Hungarians, were deposited in their last resting place, Kensall-green Cemetery. Lord Dudley Stuart, M.P., Count L. Vay, General Vettes De Doggensfisk-Vickovits (late Minister of Hungary), Colonel Count Paul Esterhazy, Colonel Gaal, Captains Nicoll, Kinizky and Nagg, Merrini (late President of the Roman Republic), Professor Newman, and Messrs. Nicholay, John Wilson, Willow, &c., joined the funeral cortege, which left deceased’s residence at one o’clock, in the following order: —Mutes, the hearse, drawn by four horses, containing the coffin, on which were placed deceased’s sword and cocked bat; two mourning carriages, in which were Hungarian officers and their female relatives. Lord Dudley Stuart’s carriage, and another private carriage. Hungarian refugees two and two, each wearing crape weeper on the arm. Italians, Poles, Germans, French, and English, in similar order, the Notting-hill Reform Association, and other similar associations, bringing up the rear. At the cemetery the funeral service was solemnly performed by the chaplain, and upon the coffin being lowered into the grave Dr. Roney delivered an eloquent and soul-stirring oration, in which he touched upon the late Hungarian straggle, and vividly described the prominent part which the illustrious deceased took in that struggle. The orator stated that the baron boasted of a long line of noble ancestry celebrated for their chivalry, gallantry, and patriotism. His grandfather had been Regent of Hungary, and the baron having entered the army very early distinguished himself in the wars against Napoleon, during 1813, and the two successive years. Subsequently and during the Hungarian struggle he repeatedly displayed on the field of battle his consummate skill and tact as commanding officer, but on no occasion more gloriously than when with 3,000 men and 7 cannons he took and defended the bridge of Piske against 14,000 Austrians, and a park of artillery of 30 guns. But he was no less distinguished for his benevolence and generosity than he was for his gallantry, as was proved from the fact of his having died penniless through his liberality to his compatriots in exile. At the close of the address deceased’s friends took a last look the coffin, and slowly and mournfully retired.

“Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not word of sorrow.
But we steadfastly gazed on the face of the dead.
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.” 

Toulmin Smith did not attend the funeral or probably ever mention the Baron’s name again. The headstone that stands on the grave is a replacement that was put up in 2001, by who I am not sure. The inscription is a copy of the original epitaph including the statement that it was erected by the Baron’s friends LLMRZ. These friends were Mrs. Lendvay-Latkoczy, the actress wife of Martin Lendvay a celebrated Hungarian actor, Jácint János Rónay, a Hungarian bishop and writer, and János Czetz, a Hungarian general who later lived in Argentina and formed the first national military academy there.  Meyer and  Zahnsdorf were London businessmen of Hungarian origin, Meyer was a furrier and  Zahnsdorf a jeweller.