Wilfrid Voynich
| Wilfrid Voynich | |
|---|---|
Wojnicz c. 1885
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| Native name | Wilfrid Voynich |
| Born |
12 November 1865 Telšiai, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire, present-day Lithuania |
| Died | 19 March 1930 (aged 64) New York City |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Revolutionary, Antiquarian Book Dealer |
| Known for | Discovery of the Voynich manuscript |
| Spouse(s) |
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Wilfrid Voynich, born Michał Wojnicz (Telsze, 12 November [O.S. 31 October] 1865 – New York, 19 March 1930), was a Polish revolutionary, antiquarian and bibliophile, and the eponym of the Voynich manuscript.
Wilfrid Michał Habdank-Wojnicz was born in Telsze (since 1918 Telšiai—a town in then Kovno Governorate, which was part of the Russian Empire now it's Lithuania)—into a Lithuanian - Polish noble family. The "Habdank" part of his surname is the name of a Polish heraldic clan. He was the son of a Polish petty official (titular counsellor).
He attended a gimnazjum in Suwałki (a town in northeastern Poland), then studied at the universities of Warsaw, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. He graduated from Moscow University in chemistry and became a licensed pharmacist.
In 1885, in Warsaw, Wojnicz joined Ludwik Waryński's revolutionary organization, Proletariat. In 1886, after a failed attempt to free fellow-conspirators Piotr Bardowski (1846-1886) and Stanisław Kunicki (1861-1886), who had both been sentenced to death, from the Warsaw Citadel, he was arrested by the Russian police. In 1887, he was sent to penal servitude at Tunka near Irkutsk.
In June 1890 he escaped from Siberia and travelling west by train got to Hamburg, eventually arriving in London in October 1890. Under the assumed name of Ivan Kel'chevskii at first, he worked with Stepniak, a fellow revolutionary, under the banner of the anti-tsarist Society of Friends of Russian Freedom in London.
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