Adolphe de Werdinsky[n 1] (1803–1856) was a central European, according to accounts written at his death, a displaced Polish nobleman, who had served under Józef Bem and was subsequently exiled.
[1] According to accounts published on his death,[n 2] Adolphe de Werdinsky was born in 1803, in Worden castle, near the Carpathian Mountains, near a town called Galatzia (see Galicia, Eastern Europe).
He attained a degree of a Physician in Vienna, but became involved in a revolutionary movement,[n 3] and was betrayed; as a result, he lost his property, leaving him without an income, and was forced to escape the county disguised as a shepherd.
He was found bankrupt in 1844 during a trial;[8] in 1844 a case was brought on behalf of an Esther Elizabeth Atlee who it was claimed had been defrauded by Werdinsky into giving him £2000, by misrepresenting himself, and entering into her affections.
[17] ..for an engine of two-horse-power, a thread, not larger in size than ladies' sewing-cotton, is sufficient; and the working machinery need not, be larger than a man's hatThe invention was never built;[5] Werdinsky's invention was discussed in a series of letters in the Mining Journal, with many responding sceptically, stating the corrosive nature of the gases produced from gun cotton combustion, as well as the cost of the material, as barriers to success.
After a short period in the Netherlands, he moved to Kingston upon Hull (c.1855); there he attempted to earn a living teaching German at the Mechanic's Institute but was unsuccessful in obtaining students.
Visitors had been excluded from the house, and their situation was generally unknown until shortly before Adolpe de Werdinsky died; he had attempted to hide his impoverished state.