Henryk Jan Nepomucen Łubieński,
Pomian coat of arms
Pomian is a Polish heraldry, Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
History
On the shield is the black head of a bison on a yellow field, with a sword driven into the he ...
, (11 July 1793, in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
– 17 September 1883, in
Wiskitki,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
) – was the scion of a Polish
magnate family, landowner,
financier
An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...
, lawyer, early
industrialist, economic activist, and co-founder of the ''Towarzystwo Kredytowe Ziemskie w Królestwie Polskim'', a banking credit institution in
Congress Poland. He was elected to the
Sejm of Congress Poland and became a government counsel. He rose to the rank of vice president of
Bank Polski, the national bank of Poland during the
Kingdom of Poland
The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to:
Historical political entities
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031
* Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...
. He was one of the co-founders of the
Mill town of
Żyrardów
Żyrardów is a town and former industrial hub in central Poland with approximately 41,400 inhabitants (2006). It is the capital of Żyrardów County situated in the Masovian Voivodeship (since 1999); previously, it was in Skierniewice Voivodes ...
and its textile industry in 1832 and a participant in the creation a new industrial and rail infrastructure in Poland.
He is considered an economic pioneer and visionary, along with several of his brothers, in welcoming the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, through their own entrepreneurial initiatives into their then partitioned, occupied and agrarian country during the first half of the 19th century. Łubieński's brilliant industrial career and activism came to an abrupt end in 1842, when he was arrested and charged with misappropriating public funds for personal use. It is said that the charges were entirely politically motivated by the then
occupying authorities. In 1848 the year his own father died, he was finally convicted and sent into Russian exile in
Kursk
Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...
for six years. On his return to Poland, a victim of Russian political repression, he never again participated in public life.
Background
He was born amid profound political turbulence in his nation, while his mother had sought sanctuary with her young family in the Czech capital, and his father was engrossed in affairs of state in Poland. He was the seventh of ten children and fifth of seven sons of two well connected Polish nobles,
Tekla Teresa Łubieńska, a writer and dramatist and
Felix Łubieński, a jurist and future minister of justice in the
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw ( pl, Księstwo Warszawskie, french: Duché de Varsovie, german: Herzogtum Warschau), also known as the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and Napoleonic Poland, was a French client state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807, during ...
, soon (1796) to be granted the hereditary title of
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
by
Frederick Wilhelm III of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
.
All the Łubieński's siblings survived into adulthood. They were, brothers: Franciszek,
Tomasz Łubieński, Piotr, Tadeusz, Jan, Józef and sisters: Maria Skarżyńska, Paulina Morawska and Róża Sobańska, known as "The Siberian rose" for her charitable work and wife of a Siberian exile and mother of the philanthropist,
Feliks Sobański.
After home tutoring, Henryk entered the Warsaw law school founded by his father in 1808. Having completed his studies there, he continued law studies in Paris. He returned to Poland aged 25 and married Irena Potocka. He bought his eldest brother's estate at
Kazimierza Wielka
Kazimierza Wielka () is a town in Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about northeast of Kraków. It is the administrative seat of Kazimierza County (''powiat kazimierski''). With a population of 5,848 (2005), it is the smallest county seat ...
and in 1818 he settled there with his wife for a time. There he planned his first sugar processing plant, a project brought to fruition by one of his nephews, Kazimierz. In 1820 he was appointed counsel to his
voivodeship
A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...
and completed a higher law degree at
Warsaw University
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
in 1826.
Career
His property portfolio was extensive and scattered: he owned estates in
Częstocice,
Wiskitki,
Guzów, Kazimierza Wielka,
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (), often referred to as Ostrowiec, is a city in southeastern Poland, in the historical region of Lesser Poland, with 66,258 residents (as of 2021). The town is one of historic centers of Polish industry and metallurgy, ...
,
Firlej
Firlej is a village in Lubartów County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Firlej. It lies approximately north-west of Lubartów and north of the regional capital Lubli ...
Lublin Voivodeship
The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelskie'' ), is a voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in southeastern part of the country. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin, C ...
and
Lubartów
Lubartów () is a town in eastern Poland, with 23,000 inhabitants (2004), situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the capital of Lubartów County and the Lubartów Commune. Historically it belongs to Lesser Poland.
Lubartów was established in 154 ...
.
He collaborated in a great range of industrial and business start-ups. He initiated
coal mining at in
Dąbrowa Górnicza
Dąbrowa Górnicza is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie, southern Poland, near Katowice and Sosnowiec. It is located in eastern part of the Silesian Voivodeship, on the Czarna Przemsza and Biała Przemsza rivers (tributaries of the Vistula River, ...
with a capital loan from the Bank Polski. Incidentally, the bronze cast memorial to him with his bust, unveiled in 1839, was the first such
casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...
made in Poland from a coal fired
Smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ...
at Huta Bankowa.
He founded the
Sugar factory at Guzów in 1829 and another sugar plant at Częstocice in 1839. While at Lubartów he started a
Ceramics
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
factory to produce
Fayence
Fayence (; oc, Faiença) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 5,735.
Fayence is one of a series of "perched villages" overlooking the plain betwee ...
china, the beginning of that particular industry in the area. His own firm lasted ten years from 1840 to 1850. In the same voivodeship at Firlej, he opened the first
Ironworks near the mineral quarry at the village of
Serock. Thus he was able to initiate the first local metal production line for agricultural machinery and implements, including scythes. He also opened factories at Żyrardów,
Starachowice and in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
In 1829, he became a director of Bank Polski, and then between 1832 and 1842, he rose to be its vice president. In 1830, with his older brother,
Tomasz he opened a department store, ''Bracia Łubieńscy i Spółka'' – "Łubieński Brothers and Partners". The store developed fortuitously just as the
November Uprising was in preparation and they were able to import armaments and military equipment from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. At the same time, Henryk Ł. opened a factory to make gunpowder and
Saltpeter
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate Salt (chemistry), salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ...
, and tailoring workshops and a shoe factory to produce military boots.
Having organised mining and metalwork, in 1835 Łubieński now turned his attention to building a railway joining Warsaw with
Zaglebie Dabrowskie, in outline essentially what was to become the
Warsaw-Vienna railway line.
Arrest and Exile
In 1842, he and Józef Lubowidzki president of Bank Polski were charged with misappropriating public funds for personal use. They denied and resisted these accusations which brought scandal and shame upon them and their illustrious families. The court case lasted six years. Finally, in 1848, the year the Łubieński clan patriarch, Felix Walezjusz, died in his 90th year, Henryk Łubieński was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison, but after interventions it was commuted to exile in Kursk for five years. His brother, Tomasz, raised the funds to pay off the creditors and buy his conditional release and was able to bring him back home.
[ consulted 2017-11-23] He returned to Poland in 1853 but he played no further significant role in the economic development of his country.
Henryk died, like his father, aged 90, and was buried in Wiskitki.
Personal life
He married Irena
Potocka with whom he had two daughters who included
Maria Magdalena Łubieńska,
and eight sons, who included Edward, Tomasz Wentworth, Konstanty Ireneusz (later a bishop who died in Siberian exile), Julian, and Jan Nepomucen.
That Łubieński was an anglophile, possibly as a result of his British business contacts and a presumed visit to
Wentworth Woodhouse
Wentworth Woodhouse is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Wentworth, in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. It is currently owned by the Wentworth Woodhouse Preservation Trust. The building has ...
, is attested by the fact that he gave his second son, born in 1821, the English name "Wentworth". This connection endured through the generations of his line as, later in the 19th century, two family descendants settled in England and married into English families, the de la Barre Bodenhams and the Grimshaws. Among his grandsons was the British-educated,
Redemptorist
The Redemptorists officially named the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer ( la, links=no, Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris), abbreviated CSsR,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men (priests and brother ...
missionary,
Servant of God Bernard Łubieński
Bernard Alojzy Łubieński, ( translit. Bernard Aloysius Lubienski) CSsR, (9 December 1846 – 10 September 1933) was a Polish Redemptorist priest, missionary and writer, closely associated with Bishop Robert Coffin and with the Roman C ...
(1846–1933), currently undergoing a
Beatification
Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...
trial at the Vatican.
Honours and decorations
For his role in the
November Uprising, he was awarded:
*
Virtuti Militari
The War Order of Virtuti Militari (Latin: ''"For Military Virtue"'', pl, Order Wojenny Virtuti Militari) is Poland's highest military decoration for heroism and courage in the face of the enemy at war. It was created in 1792 by Polish King St ...
(1831), Class V Silver Cross
*
Order of Saint Stanislaus (1831)
*
Order of Saint Anna
The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Hol ...
(1831)
Bibliography
*
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 foreigner ...
Vol. XVIII (1973)
*
Melchior Wańkowicz
Melchior Wańkowicz (10 January 1892 – 10 September 1974) was a Polish army officer, popular writer, political journalist and publisher. He is most famous for his reporting for the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II and writing ...
, ''
Sztafeta'' (1939)
See also
*
List of Polish people
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Science
Physics
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges Charpa ...
*
Tomasz Lubienski Tomasz is a Polish given name, the equivalent of Thomas in English.
Notable people with the given name include:
* Tomasz Adamek (born 1976), Polish heavyweight boxer
*Tomasz Arciszewski (1877–1955), Polish socialist politician and Prime Mini ...
References
External links
* A critical assessment of Henryk Łubieński's role in industry.
Marek Jerzy Minakowski – ''Genealogia Potomków Sejmu Wielkiego'' – genealogy service
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lubieński, Henryk
1793 births
1883 deaths
Businesspeople from Prague
19th-century Polish nobility
19th-century Polish lawyers
Polish bankers
19th-century Polish businesspeople
Polish industrialists
19th-century Polish landowners