Stefan Eugeniusz Tyszkiewicz, in Polish, Stefan Eugeniusz Maria Tyszkiewicz-Łohojski z Landwarowa, Leliwa coat of arms, (born 24 November 1894 in Warsaw, died 6 February 1976 in London) was a member of the Polish nobility, landowner, engineer, inventor and an early pioneer of the Polish automotive industry. He was a decorated veteran of both World Wars and the Polish–Bolshevik War and social activist. After 1945, he became an exile, turned to publishing and politics as a member of the National Council of Poland in London. He was an internationally feted inventor to the end of his life.
Background
Stefan was the first born son, and second child of four, of Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz and his wife, Princess Krystyna Maria Lubomirska. The family were not merely members of the nobility, but had been magnates, and Stefan was to be the final heir to the Lentvaris Manor in Lithuania. His older sister, Zofia Róża, was famed as a great beauty and married Count Klemens Potocki. Already in childhood, Stefan showed a remarkable aptitude for technology. At the age of 14 years, he managed to gain a professional driving permit in Milan. In 1911, at only 17, he took out patents for two heating systems, one for cars, the other for flying machines. In 1913 he began undergraduate studies in engineering at Oxford University.
World War I and the Russian Revolution He was in Poland, during his first summer vacation from Oxford, when World War I was declared. He was never to return to the dreaming spires, but volunteered instead for the Russian branch of the International Red Cross. For conspicuous bravery in saving, under fire, seven gravely injured soldiers, he was awarded the Order of St. George. In 1915 he was conscripted into the army. He passed out of the Page Corps in St Petersburg. From late 1916 he was adjutant to Gen. Grand Duke Nikolay Romanov, commander-in-chief of the Caucasus Army. He met the step-daughter of Grand Duke Nikolay, who was herself related to several royal houses of Europe, Princess Elena of Leuchtenberg (1892–1971). She was the daughter of George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg and Princess Anastasia of Montenegro. They married in Yalta in July 1917. The couple had one surviving child, Countess Natalia Tyszkiewicz (1921–2003), who was to spend much of her later life in Switzerland. Tyszkiewicz and his wife were in Crimea at the outbreak of the October Revolution. Stefan was able to help many of his countrymen to leave there and return to Poland. He himself left the peninsula with his wife aboard a British ship along with other members of the extended Russian royal family, after King George V was able to prevail upon the then resistant British prime minister, Lloyd George, to rescue them.
1920s After a brief stay in Italy, the Tyszkiewicz returned to their Lentvaris Manor in 1919. Shortly after, the Polish–Bolshevik war broke out and Tyszkiewicz volunteered for the cavalry in the Vilnius Region. In 1921 as a delegate of the Chief-of-staff of the Polish Army, he took part in the League of Nations commission charged with defining the new Polish–Lithuanian frontier. Following the birth of his daughter, Tyszkiewicz left for Paris to resume his academic studies interrupted seven years earlier at Oxford. In 1921 he was admitted to the École des Sciences Politiques for a politics degree and simultaneously attended lectures at the Ecole centrale des arts et manufactures on automotive technology.
Ralf Stetysz
In 1924 he began working on a project to design a car with the idea of developing motorised road transport in Poland. He founded a partnership for the purpose in Boulogne-Billancourt, a Paris suburb. He named it Automobiles Ralf Stetysz (a contraction of his name with the acronym in Polish of: Rolniczo Automobilowo-Lotnicza Fabryka Stefana Tyszkiewicza, translating as: the 'Agricultural-Aero-Automotive Factory of Stefan Tyszkiewicz'). His prototype vehicle used an American engine of the Continental Motors Company. The aim was to construct an all terrain passenger carrier adapted to a very poor road infra-structure and easy to maintain and repair. In 1925 he succeeded in producing two models:
The model TC with a 6-cylinder engine of 2760 cm³ capacity and 42 horsepower The model TA with a 4-cylinder engine of 1500 cm³ capacity and 20 horsepower. The car was exhibited at both the 1926 and 1927 international Paris Car Show, where it gained the reputation of a good quality 'Colonial' car. It also met with success at Polish sporting and trial events and it participated in the 1929 Eighth Monte Carlo Rally when it won recognition and a prize for comfort and its adaptability for long-distance travel. In 1928 production was transferred to Warsaw, to an existing factory, 'K. Rudzki & S-ka'. The car-bodies were manufactured by the aero specialist, Plage & Laskiewicz of Lublin. In moving the operation to Poland, Tyszkiewicz had to place his entire family fortune as collateral. In support, his wife parted with her own family heirloom, an 86 carat emerald brooch, which had once belonged to Catherine the Great. On 11 February 1929, the Warsaw factory was destroyed by fire. Six completed cars were lost and 27 nearing completion. One or two were saved. Tyszkiewicz intended to restart production at his estate in Lentvaris, but failed to convince the shareholders of the 'Stetysz' company. In all, 200 Ralf Stetysz vehicles had been produced. So after the fire, Tyszkiewicz resigned himself to importing Mercedes-Benz and Fiat cars into Poland. He co-founded the 'Road League' – 'Liga Drogowa', and became its president in 1933. He also wrote about Motorisation in Poland.
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