Stanisław Potocki

Stanisław Florian Potocki alias Staś (6 May 1776 – 30 November 1830) – general of infantry of the Polish Army, senator-voivode of the Congress Poland.

Potocki participated in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, and in the following anti-Russian Kościuszko Uprising in 1794. After Napoleon's entry into Polish lands, he joined the forming Polish Army. He took part in the War of the Fourth Coalition and then in the Austro–Polish War (part of the War of the Fifth Coalition). In 1812, he participated in French invasion of Russia, serving as the chief of staff of the V Corps of the Grande Armée.

He was captured by Russian forces in Warsaw, but after his release, he joined the army of the emerging Congress Poland, aligned by personal union with the Russian Empire. He enjoyed the trust of King and Emperor Nicholas I and was sent on a diplomatic mission to Prussia on his behalf. He was a staunch opponent of the growing anti-Russian conspiracy in Warsaw, which saw him or General Józef Chłopicki as a potential leader of a future uprising. After the outbreak of the uprising on the night of November 29, 1830, he rejected Piotr Wysocki's personal offer of leadership. During the subsequent street fighting, he was beaten, torn apart, and ultimately shot. He died from his wounds later that same day.

Biography Stanisław Florian Potocki was born into the powerful magnate family of the Potockis, as the son of Józef Makary Potocki and Ludwika née Lubomirski. On July 12, 1789, he entered service in the Crown Artillery, and on January 26 of the following year, he was appointed as a second lieutenant. During the Polish–Russian War of 1792, he served in the unit of General Arnold Byszewski. On June 9, 1792, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. The name of Potocki was also inscribed on the monument erected by the Russian authorities in Warsaw in 1841, honoring the loyalist officers who fell during the November Uprising. The inscription read: "To the Poles who fell on November 17/29, 1830, for their loyalty to their monarch."

Stanisław Potocki was one of the characters in the 1904 play "Noc listopadowa" by Stanisław Wyspiański.

Family On September 7, 1797, he married Józefa Anna Maria Dowojna-Sołohub in Warsaw, the daughter of Jerzy Dowojna-Sołohub, a councilor of the Permanent Council, and Marianna née Potocka. From this marriage, he had three children: Adela, Leon, Henryk, and Stanisław Józef. Of these, only reached adulthood and gained fame as a writer and memoirist. After the death of his first wife, he married Marianna Górska on February 22, 1815, the daughter of Kazimierz Górski and Barbara née Kamińska. From this marriage, he had a daughter, Ludwika Józefa, who married Count Konrad Walewski.