Wiktor Godlewski

Godlewski was born to Aleksander and Anna Karolina daughter of Józef Ciołkowski in Boguty Wielkie [pl] in the Polish noble clan Gozdawa.

After the death of his father in 1848 he moved to work in the Brulino-Koski estate of his cousin Józef Wincenty.

In 1863, he was punished for taking part in the January Uprising and sent to labour in Siberian mines for 12 years.

After release he began to collaborate with Benedykt Dybowski to study the Siberian fauna and flora between 1864 and 1877.

They collected bird specimens that were used by Taczanowski in his Fauna ornithologique de la Siberie Orientale published in the Journal für Ornithologie.