Revolutionary David Todorov

David Savov Todorov, a Bulgarian merchant and revolutionary, was born in Vratsa. He came from a wealthy merchant family and, in his early years, helped his father with commercial activities, travelled at home and abroad, learnt several foreign languages and received an advanced education. He soon began his own commercial activities and succeeded in establishing himself.

A great patriot, Todorov was impressed by Georgi Sava Rakovski's revolutionary ideas. Because of his involvement in conspiratorial activities with Nikola Voyvodov, he was pursued by the Ottoman authorities and emigrated to Romania. He settled there in 1866 and began trading tobacco. He soon joined the radical Bulgarian emigrant community and became an active member of the secret Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee. He established close ties with Hristo Botev.

David Todorov actively participated in organising and preparing Hristo Botev's detachment, providing substantial funds for weapons, ammunition and clothing. He played an important role on the detachment's staff as an adviser. During the seizure of the ship "Radetzky", he explained the detachment's objectives to the captain in German. Todorov was one of about 20 members of Botev's detachment from Vratsa and the surrounding region who left their families, trade and crafts for the struggle to liberate Bulgaria. A tragic fate overtook him on 18 May 1876, when he died in an exchange of fire with Ottoman troops on the Milin Kamak elevation before reaching the Vratsa Balkan Mountains.