Hipolit Cegielski

Hipolit Cegielski was a Polish philologist, businessman, social and cultural activist, journalist, and politician. He was born in Ławki, near Trzemeszno, as the son of a landowner. He lost his mother at an early age, and his father went bankrupt, which made him very independent. He studied at the gymnasiums in Trzemeszno and Poznań, and then at the University of Berlin, where he obtained a doctorate in philosophy. He returned to Poznań and became a teacher of Polish and ancient languages (Greek and Latin) at the gymnasium he graduated from. He also published many articles on linguistics and didactics, as well as textbooks on Greek grammar and poetics. He was involved in the political unrest of 1846, and refused to cooperate with the school authorities in inspecting his students' homes, which ended his teaching career. He then opened a shop of agricultural tools in the Poznań Bazaar, which he later transformed into a workshop and then a factory of agricultural machines and tools. He moved his factory to Kozi Street in 1855, and then to Strzelecka Street in 1859, where he built a foundry. He was one of the first Polish authors of technical literature, publishing a book on agricultural machines and tools in 1858. He also continued his scientific work, publishing an expanded edition of his dissertation on the Polish language in 1852. He was active in many social and cultural organizations, such as the Society for Scientific Aid, the Polish Industrial Society, the Central Agricultural Society, and the Poznań Society of Friends of Science. He was also a deputy to the Prussian National Assembly. He died of pneumonia in Poznań in 1868, and was buried in the cemetery on Św. Marcin Street. He was the founder of H. Cegielski - Poznań, one of the largest Polish industrial enterprises, which still operates today.