— conservative thinker and politician.
Born on 13 March 1803 in Sędziejowice near Pińczów. In the Sejm during the November Uprising. That was also when he went on a diplomatic mission to England on behalf of the National Government, unsuccessfully trying to drum up the English elites’ support for the insurrection. In 1833, co-wrote a memorial in defense of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Poland. During 1835‒1836, co-edited Kwartalnik Naukowy with Antoni Zygmunt Helcel. After the Galician Slaughter, sent an open letter to Prince Metternich (Lettre d’un gentilhomme polonais sur les massacres de Galicie adressée au Prince de Metternich. A l’occasion de sa dépeche du 7 mars 1846), where he accused the Austrian bureaucracy of contributing to those bloody events and advocated cooperation with Russia. In 1861, Tsar Alexander II made him director of the Government Commission for Religious Affairs and Public Education. Wielopolski carried out the abolition of serfdom and led to the dissolution of the Agricultural Society, which significantly worsened his difficult contacts with the Whites. To protest against the activities of tsarist governor General Lüders, the margrave resigned in October 1861, but as soon as in June 1862 became head of the civil government of the Kingdom of Poland. The outbreak of the January Uprising and the situation in the Russian partition which got out of control — also due to Wielopolski’s mistakes — determined his political fate. Dismissed, he left Warsaw in July 1863 and spent the rest of his life in exile. Died in Dresden on 30 December 1877.