22 Facts About Stefan Tyszkiewicz

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was an internationally feted inventor to the end of his life.

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.

Already in childhood, Stefan Tyszkiewicz showed a remarkable aptitude for technology.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was in Poland, during his first summer vacation from Oxford, when World War I was declared.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was never to return to the dreaming spires, but volunteered instead for the Russian branch of the International Red Cross.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz passed out of the Page Corps in St Petersburg.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz met the step-daughter of Grand Duke Nikolay, who was herself related to several royal houses of Europe, Princess Elena of Leuchtenberg.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was the daughter of George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg and Princess Anastasia of Montenegro.

The couple had one surviving child, Countess Natalia Stefan Tyszkiewicz, who was to spend much of her later life in Switzerland.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was able to help many of his countrymen to leave there and return to Poland.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz 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.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz founded a partnership for the purpose in Boulogne-Billancourt, a Paris suburb.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz named it Automobiles Ralf Stetysz.

In moving the operation to Poland, Stefan Tyszkiewicz had to place his entire family fortune as collateral.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz intended to restart production at his estate in Lentvaris, but failed to convince the shareholders of the 'Stetysz' company.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was released from Lubianka Prison in October 1941 and made his way to the General Anders' army being formed then in preparation for a mass exodus from the USSR.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was appointed officer-in-charge of the motorised unit of the Polish 2nd Corps.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz went on to design a wheel-chair, which thanks to an automatically variable axle length, could go up and down stairs, including escalators.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz designed an industrial stapler that was noted in Brussels in 1965 and in Geneva in 1972.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz had a long-standing interest in aeronautics and collaborated with the former European Launcher Development Organisation, on load-bearing rockets, and was later connected to the European Space Research Organisation and European Space Agency projects.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz was a Knight of Malta and was elected on three occasions to its Grand Council.

Stefan Tyszkiewicz died in London in 1976 and was buried in the family plot at London's Brompton Cemetery.