Feliks Łubieński

The Łubieński clan belongs to the Polish nobility, 'szlachta', and originates from Łubna-Jarosłaj near Sieradz. Feliks was the son of Celestyn and Paula, née Szembek, of Austrian descent. His father died in 1759 and his mother remarried Jan Prosper Potocki, starosta of Guzów, with whom she had a son, Prot. Her second husband died in 1761. She next married Andrzej Ogiński, starosta of Troki, with whom she had a daughter, Józefa. and a third son, Michał Kleofas Ogiński. He became a noted composer and was Polish envoy to London, among other capitals, during the crisis period for his nation that were the Partitions of Poland. Owing to this family connection and a long-standing relationship with the Prussian court, Feliks was able, later in life, to take over the vast estate of Guzów.[2]

He was elected in 1788 as a member for the Sieradz voivedeship to the Four Years Sejm.[3] Between 1789-1792 he was a captain in the Royal Cavalry. He belonged to the patriotic front and was one of the editors of the Act of Confederation of the Sejm. He guided the passage of the 3rd May Constitution in February 1792 at the local Sejmik of Sieradz. He organised an assembly of the Sieradz nobility that expressed its sympathetic acceptance of the new constitution. He appeared on the list of Russian envoy, Jakov Bułhakow, in 1792, that comprised those people the Russians could rely on in the event of a new confederation and the overthrow of the 3rd May Constitution.[4]

He greeted with 'respect' the news that King Stanisław August Poniatowski had joined the Targowica Confederation, and yet to the king he wrote: 'it confounds me that this has come to pass'. During the Polish-Russian War of 1792 he was Sejm commissioner for Tadeusz Kościuszko. After the struggle he appealed for the release of Polish prisoners in the Prussian kingdom. After the Second Partition of Poland (1793) his estates – Kalinowa and Szczytniki found themselves in the Prussian Partition. In 1793 he entertained at Szczytniki, in the presence of around 100 of the local nobility, Frederick William II of Prussia who had gone on a tour of his conquered territories. Łubieński was both a member of the secret coalition preparing the Kosciuszko Insurrection and a participant in the insurrection itself.[5][6] After the final partition of Poland in 1795, Łubieński's estates found themselves in Prussia, as did that of his widowed mother, Paula Ogińska. Due to its enormous size (6,000 hectares), Guzów was confiscated by the king and given to one of his loyal ministers, Karl Georg von Hoym. Von Hoym was minded to sell it back to Ogińska, its most recent legal owner. Łubieński intervened at this juncture and, with the backing of the king of Prussia, arranged a swap with von Hoym such that he bought him off with his two estates at Kalinowa and Szczytniki in exchange for Guzów. Thus he obtained control of his mother's former property and became starosta of Guzów. He eventually retired there permanently in 1823. In 1798 he was awarded the Prussian hereditary title of count by Frederick Wilhelm III.

'Count Felix Lubieński'. Lithograph by Józef Sonntag

He was twice married, secondly in 1782 to Tekla Teresa Lubienska, granddaughter of the princely Sanguszko family, a noted children's author, dramatist and translator. In her dowry she brought him a magnificent palace in the centre of Warsaw and the Bielino enclave.[9] They had ten children, three daughters: Maria, Paulina and Róża (later the wife of Ludwik Sobański), and seven sons: Franciszek Ksawery, Tomasz Łubieński, Henryk, Piotr, Tadeusz, Jan and Józef.

His wife died of an aneurysm while visiting Kraków in 1810. During his extended widowhood, Feliks did not remarry, but became a patriarch to his huge extended family and kept up an active correspondence with his children and dozens of grandchildren.[10] He died in Guzów in 1848 and was buried in the cemetery at Wiskitki.

A recent historical evaluation of Łubieński's public service lauded his contribution to culture and education in the country through sound public administration, including legal procedures and a court system, the introduction of state archives, a national library, a government printing press and an educated and effective civil service.[11] During his long widowhood he took a close interest in his children's careers and welfare. He encouraged their entrepreneurial spirit by guiding them into 'beneficial' matrimony, as in the case of Józef who married into the Pudliszki estate, where he opened a sugar factory, the precursor of a fruit and vegetable processing factory that operates to this day. Or, in the case of the older brothers, led by Henryk, he donated to them Ruda Guzowska, a tract of land to begin their textile revolution. It rapidly led to the founding of an industry and a successful mill town, known today as Żyrardów.

• 1778 Order of Saint Stanislaus[12]
• 1791 Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
• 1798 Prussian nobility title of Count
• 1805 Order of the Red Eagle[13]

in Polish

• Polski Słownik Biograficzny, Tom XVIII (1973 )
• Encyklopedia Katolicka Tom XI, KUL, Lublin 2006
• M. Brandys, Koniec świata szwoleżerów, t. I, Warszawa 1972
• Wł. Chometowski, Pamiętnik hr. Feliksa Łubieńskiego, Warszawa 1890
• K. Pol, Feliks Łubieński, [w:] „Rzeczpospolita” 28.04.1999
• A. Ruszkowski, Feliks Walezjusz Pomian Łubieński (1758-1848), jego przodkowie i dzieci, [w:] Na sieradzkich szlakach, nr 1/57/2000XV, p. 26-28

• Władysław Chomętowski, Pamiętnik Feliksa hr. Łubieńskiego ministra sprawiedliwości, Warszawa 1890 (djvu) Łubieński's diaries
• Marek Jerzy Minakowski – Genealogia Potomków Sejmu Wielkiego – genealogy service