Todor Kableshkov

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Todor Kableshkov (January 13, 1851 – June 16, 1876) was a Bulgarian revolutionary and a leader of the April Uprising against the Ottoman Empire. He was born in Koprivshtitsa into a wealthy family. He studied there and in Plovdiv, and in 1867 he founded the Zora enlightenment society. He later studied at Galatasaray High School in Istanbul but had to return home because of illness. In 1873 he worked as a telegraph operator in Edirne and then as a station master near Pazardzhik, where he stayed active in cultural and educational work.

Early in 1876 he returned to Koprivshtitsa and joined the revolutionary cause. He led the local revolutionary committee and acted as the deputy of the Panagyurishte district. He was the first to announce the April Uprising on April 20, 1876, and wrote the famous Bloody Letter to Panagyurishte. He headed the military council in Koprivshtitsa and led a detachment with Panayot Volov, visiting nearby villages.

After the uprising was crushed, Kableshkov fled into the Balkan mountains but was captured near Troyan. He was tortured in Lovech and Veliko Tarnovo prisons and, at age 25, killed himself in a Gabrovo police office. He is remembered as one of Bulgaria’s bravest revolutionaries, especially for starting the rebellion at such a young age. His house in Koprivshtitsa is now a museum, and a monument marks the place where he began the uprising.