STURMAN, Martin

S.’s parents were landowners in the county of Gömör and they also owned ironworks and iron foundry in Mokra Lúka and Lubeník, forests and a large number of iron ore mines. S. finished the evangelical school in Kežmarok, Prešov and Bratislava with distinction. Since 1778 he was in the service of Gömör County, became chief judge in 1781 and a grand mayor in 1794, which was equivalent to the position of Emperor’s or royal councillor. S. used the experience and connections in the county office primarily for the modernization of iron industry in Gömör, where he achieved the replacement of the obsolete blast furnace with newly built furnace with water-driven blower system and thus improve the extraction of pig iron.
These furnaces first appeared at the end of the 18th century in Revuca. In 1792 S. as organizer took part in founding a joint stock company Societas Massae Chalibeae for the production of steel, within which a blast furnace with two plants for steelmaking process was bulit and workshops with forging hammers in Červena Skala (municipality Šumiac). The company was forced to declare a bankruptcy in 1798, but it was able to maintain the metallurgical plant in their ownership. The establishment of two steel companies, "Murányer-Union" (1808) and "Rimaer-Koalition" (1810) in the Gömör County is considered one of the most important S.’s decisions. The aim of these two companies was to increase iron and steel production through technical innovations. As a major shareholder of both companies and chairman of the "Rimaer-Koalition" company S. also decided on the policy of both companies. By replacing outdated furnaces with new furnaces and fouding the two companies that in 1852 merged in "Rimamuránytaler Eisenwerks-Verein" and operated under the name "Rimamurány-Salgo-Tarjaner-Eisenwerks-AG from 1881 onwards, S. significantly contributed to the modernization of the Slovak -Hungarian steel industry at the end of the 18th and early 19th century. A cast iron memorial located in Rimavski Brezov, in the former company headquarters, reminds us of S.’s contribution.