Lucjan Żeligowski was born on October 17, 1865 in the Przechody (Belarusian: Пераходы) folwark by the village of Sikūnė [a] in Oshmyansky Uyezd, in the Russian Empire (modern Ashmyany District in Belarus) (other sources give Oszmiana as his birthplace) to Polish parents Gustaw Żeligowski and Władysława Żeligowska née Traczewska.

After graduating from military officers' school located in Riga (1885), Żeligowski joined the Imperial Russian Army, where he served at various staff and command posts.

[3] During the First World War he served as a lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of an Imperial Russian rifle regiment.

[3] As part of the Polish Army, his unit fought alongside the Denikin's Whites in the Russian Civil War.

After the outbreak of the Polish-Bolshevik War and the defeat of Denikin, Żeligowski's unit was ordered to retreat to Romanian Bessarabia, where it took part in defence of the border against Bolshevik raids.

During the war against the Bolshevist Russia, Żeligowski, a personal friend of Polish Marshal Józef Piłsudski, was quickly promoted to general and given the command over an operational group of his name, composed of his 10th division and additional units, mostly of partisan origin.

[5] In the 14th-century Lithuanian Chronicles, there was written about mobilization in Ašmena, where it was mentioned that Jokūbas Želigovskis had a horse, weapon, axe, etc.

[5]Żeligowski later in his memoir which was published in London in 1943 condemned the annexation of Republic by Poland, as well as the policy of closing Belarusian schools and general disregard of Marshal Józef Piłsudski's confederation plans by Polish ally.

Promoted to three-star general in 1923, he served as an army inspector, or a commander of a military district of the capital city of Warsaw.

During the Invasion of Poland, Żeligowski volunteered for the Polish Armed Forces, but was not accepted due to his old age (he was 74 at that time) and poor health.

An active member of the Polish National Council, an advisory body, he escaped to London after the French defeat in 1940.

[3] After the end of Second World War Żeligowski declared he would return to Poland, but he suddenly died on 9 July 1947 in London.