Florian Frederick Skarbek (15 February 1792 – 25 September 1866) was a member of the Polish nobility, an economist, novelist, historian, social activist, administrator and politician.[1]
Skarbek was born in Torun. His aristocratic family had roots dating back to medieval times. He was one of four children.
After teaching at the Warsaw High School he began studying economics in 1809 in Paris . In 1812 he returned to Poland. In 1818 he became professor of economics at the University of Warsaw . He worked in the department of prisons and charitable establishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He represented the party of settlement, at the outbreak of the November Uprising of 1830–31. He designed the Pawiak prison in Warsaw completed in 1835.
In March 1831 he became a member of the Provisional Council of the Kingdom. Skarbek served as president of the Central Council of Welfare Charity Works Directorate of Insurance. [2]
In 1854 became director of the Justice Committee. In 1858 he entered retirement and returned to scientific and literary work. He died in Warsaw in 1866.
Tsar Nicholas I gave him the Russian hereditary title of Count in 1846. He was also awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus II class from Nicholas I.
He was godfather to the composer Frédéric Chopin (1810 – 1849). He was a pioneer in economic theory[2] and his 1829 work Théorie des richesses sociales influenced Karl Marx in formulating his theory of labour. [3]