Potocki Family - Distinguished Member

Distinguished Member

• Count Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk (1902–1997), accomplished New Zealand poet, has been erroneously described as a "feigned member" of the Pilawa Potocki family. In fact, he is a direct descendant of the Bocki Potocki line, until recently believed to have died out with the death of Count Jozef Franciszek Jan Potocki, his great grandfather, in Paris. Jozef's son, Count Joseph Wladislas Edmond Potocki de Montalk, born Paris 1836, B. es L. (Sorbonne), fought in Garibaldi's campaign of 1859, and arrived in New Zealand in 1868 where he became Professor of Modern Languages at Auckland University College. He was the author of The Elements of French Literature, 1879; founder and president of the Alliance Française; a member of the Société de Linguistique de Paris; and, as an Officier d'Académie, was a recipient of the Palmes académiques. Professor Potocki de Montalk had twelve children; the eldest son, Robert Wladislas, an Auckland architect, was Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk's father.