Henryk Abicht (1835–1863) was a Polish independence activist and exile, a member of the

Polish Democratic Society The Polish Democratic Society ( pl, Towarzystwo Demokratyczne Polskie or TDP) was a radical constitutionalist political organization established in Paris by émigrés from the Kingdom of Poland in 1832. While not explicitly socialist with respect ...

. He was considered to be a prominent Polish socialist. Abicht was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

. In 1857 he emigrated to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he collaborated with Zenon Świętosławski, who worked in printing. From 1859 he was an associate of

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (russian: Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Ге́рцен, translit=Alexándr Ivánovich Gértsen; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the "father of Russian socialism" and one of the main fathers of agra ...

and publisher of

Kolokol Kolokol is Russian word which means bell. It may refer to: * ''Kolokol'' (newspaper), a newspaper edited by Alexander Herzen and Nikolay Ogarev *Kolokol Group, a group of somma volcanoes located in the Kuril Islands, Russia *Tsar Bell, also referre ...

. In 1862 he came to Warsaw as an emissary of the Gromady Rewolucyjnej Londyn of London which he had led along with Świętosławski, Jan Krynski and Ludwik Oborski. It caused an outrage that he had been able to reenter Poland under a British passport using the alias of John Bret. He tried to persuade the peasants to start a national uprising. A participant of the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

, he fell into an ambush during the attack on the van with the money. On November 20, 1862 he was captured by the Russians and was killed shortly afterwards in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

.Maksymiljan Meloch and Zofia Rutkowska, w:

Polski Słownik Biograficzny ''Polski Słownik Biograficzny'' (''PSB''; Polish Biographical Dictionary) is a Polish-language biographical dictionary, comprising an alphabetically arranged compilation of authoritative biographies of some 25,000 notable Poles and of foreigners ...

. T. 1. Polska Akademia Umiejętności – Skład Główny w Księgarniach Gebethnera i Wolffa, 1935, s. 5-6.

References

1835 births 1863 deaths Politicians from Vilnius People from Vilensky Uyezd Polish socialists Polish democracy activists Polish revolutionaries Polish exiles Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom {{Poland-activist-stub