Lajos Navay
Speaker of the House of Representatives
In office 9 November 1911 ? 21 May 1912
Preceded by	Albert Berzeviczy
Succeeded by	Istvan Tisza
Personal details
Born	( 1870-09-18 ) 18 September 1870 Foldeak , Austria-Hungary
Died	29 April 1919 (1919-04-29) (aged 48) Kiskunfelegyhaza , Hungarian Soviet Republic
Political party	Liberal Party (?-1904) Constitution Party (1904/05-1910) Party of National Work (1910-1912) Independent (1912-1919)
Profession	jurist, politician

Lajos Navay de Foldeak (18 September 1870 – 29 April 1919) was a Hungarian jurist and politician, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives between 1911 and 1912.

Biography [ edit ]

He was born in Foldeak , Csanad County into a Catholic family. The Navay family held important functions since expulsion of the Ottoman Empire (late-17th century). His parents were Lajos Navay Sr. and Ilona Eotvos, daughter of Baron Jozsef Eotvos . His paternal grandfather was Tamas Navay, Lord Lieutenant (Count; comes ) of Csanad County, parliamentary emissary and member of the House of Magnates.

He finished his secondary studies in Szeged and Budapest . After that he studied law in the capital city then listened to half a year in the Universities of Berlin and Bonn . He was honored to Ph.D. in 1891. He was appointed honorary deputy notary of Csanad County in May 1892; since October 1895 served as Honorary Chief Constable; since December 1896 as Chief Notary; since December 1901 as Deputy Lieutenant (Viscount; vicecomes ).

Navay joined the national political scene in 1904. For a short time he was a member of the Liberal Party, he withdrew from the party after the scandalous " handkerchief vote " on 18 November 1904. He joined to the group of "dissidents" led by Gyula Andrassy the Younger which later transformed into National Constitution Party. He served as Member of Parliament between 1905 and 1918. He was appointed as one of the deputy speakers of the lower house in 1906. He performed at hard against the Croatian obstruction. His party merged into the Party of National Work in 1910.

He replaced Albert Berzeviczy in the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1911. Prime Minister Laszlo Lukacs submitted the new electoral draft on 31 December 1912. Navay's opinion about the draft obtained from those of fellow party members, as a result he left the party and became a non-partisan parliamentarian. After outbreak of the First World War he was appointed Ministerial Commissioner for Food.

Prime Minister Sandor Wekerle resigned on 30 October 1918 and King Charles IV designated Count Janos Hadik to the position. Navay would have been the Minister of the Interior if the cabinet could have formed but the Aster Revolution swept away the old system and Count Mihaly Karolyi became new premier of the country.

Death [ edit ]

During the Hungarian Soviet Republic the Communists, who were fleeing from the Serb and French invasions, took hostages from Mako on 26 April 1919. Simultaneously Tibor Szamuely , leading figure of the Red Terror arrived to Mako to take revenge for the murder of People's Commissar Kalman Vasarhelyi on 23 April 1919. The Directore in Foldeak abducted Navay too. He was murdered in the railway station in Kiskunfelegyhaza along with his cousin, Ivan Navay and Chief Notary for Szentes , Bela Kiss.

Memories [ edit ]

There was a monument in Mako which portrayed Lajos Navay since 1935. At present, only the side figures remained. On 31 October 2011 Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary Laszlo Kover unveiled a memorial plaque of former speakers Istvan Tisza and Lajos Navay in the Hungarian Parliament Building . ^[1]

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Jonas, Karoly - Villam, Judit: A Magyar Orszaggy?les elnokei 1848-2002 . Argumentum, Budapest, 2002. pp. 161–164