View source for Antoni Protazy Potocki

{{Short description|Polish nobleman and entrepreneur}}
{{Infobox noble
|name=Antoni Protazy Potocki
| image                = Antoni Protazy Potocki.PNG
| house-type           = Szlachta
| noble family         = [[Potocki family|Potocki]]
| CoA                  = [[Pilawa coat of arms|Piława]]
|tenure=|predecessor=|successor=| father               = Jan Prosper [[Potocki]]
| mother               =  {{Interlanguage link|Paula Szembek|pl}}  
| spouse               = Marianna Lubomirska 
| spouse-type          = 
| issue               = Emilia Potocka
| birth_date = 11 September 1761
| birth_place  = [[Guzów, Żyrardów County|Guzów]] near [[Skierniewice]]
| death_date  = 1801
| death_place   =
}}
'''Antoni Protazy Potocki''' (11 September 1761 – 1801), aka '''Prot''', was a [[Szlachta|Polish nobleman]] and an early [[Entrepreneurship|entrepreneur]]. 

==Biography==
He was born to Paula née [[Szembek coat of arms|Szembek]] and her second husband, Count Jan Prosper [[House of Potocki|Potocki]], Starosta of [[Guzów, Żyrardów County|Guzów]]. He was a younger half-brother of [[Feliks Lubienski]] and older half-brother of [[Michal Kleofas Oginski]] and his sister, Józefa [[Ogiński family|Ogińska]].

In 1790 Antoni bought himself [[voivode]]ship [[Kiev Voivodship|of Kiev]], approved in 1891 by King<ref name=ibo/> and briefly he was [[starost]] of Guzów.<ref name=zozi/> He was a banker in Kherson and [[Warsaw]].<ref name=ibo/>

As proprietor of the [[Chudniv]] estate, he established several factories in the village of [[Makhnivka]], near [[Berdychiv]]. He was director the ''Polish Black Sea Trading Company'', and ran an import-export business in Russian-ruled [[Kherson]].  Potocki had inherited wealth from his father: 6 million zlotys and a number of estates.<ref name=ibo/><ref name=zozi>Zofia Zielińska, ''Prot Potocki'', Polski Słownik Biograficzny, no. 28/1, 1984, p. 134-135.</ref> His marriage with Marianna Lubomirska, daughter of [[Polish magnates|magnate]] {{ill|Kasper Lubomirski|pl}}, contributed still more. At the peak of his wealth, in early 1790s, his fortune was estimated 60-70 million zlotys. However political turmoils brought his (and many other wealthy Polish businessmen) fortune to the end. The first strike was the [[first partition of Poland]], during which people rushed to banks for money, and many banks, including Potocki's, crashed. He was on the way to recovery, but the second political blow followed: the [[Kościuszko Uprising]] of 1794. Eventually much of the remaining fortune and estates were lost due to unpaid taxes. The knowledge of his last days in oblivion is fragmentary.<ref name=ibo>Ivan Bondarev, [https://kuriergalicyjski.com/antoni-protazy-potocki/ Antoni Protazy Potocki], ''Kurier Galicyjski'', September 11, 2017</ref>

He was invested as a Knight of the [[Order of the White Eagle (Poland)|Order of the White Eagle]], awarded on May 8, 1781. Later he was awarded with the [[Order of Saint Stanislaus]].<ref name=zozi/>

== References ==
{{wikisource|ru:РБС/ВТ/Потоцкий, Антон-Протазий}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Voivodes of Kiev}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Potocki, Antoni Protazy}}
[[Category:1761 births]]
[[Category:1801 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Żyrardów County]]
[[Category:Polish bankers]]
[[Category:Ruthenian nobility of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]
[[Category:19th-century Polish businesspeople]]
[[Category:Potocki family|Antoni Protazy Potocki]]
[[Category:18th-century Polish–Lithuanian businesspeople]]
[[Category:Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:Voivodes of Kiev]]