Occupation Curate, writer Name W. Lach-Szyrma Language English | Nationality British Period Victorian era Ethnicity Polish-English | |
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Born 25 December 1841
Devonport, Devon ( 1841-12-25 ) Alma mater Brasenose College, Oxford Genre Science fiction
History Died June 25, 1915, Barkingside, Ilford, United Kingdom Notable works Aleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds | ||
Education Brasenose College, Oxford | ||
The Reverend Wladislaw Somerville Lach-Szyrma, M.A., F.R.H.S. (25 December 1841 – 25 June 1915) was an English curate, historian and science fiction writer who is credited as the first writer to use the word Martian as a noun.
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Personal life
Wladislaw Somerville Lach-Szyrma was the son of Krystyn Lach Szyrma (1790–1866) and Sarah Frances Somerville (1802–1869). Krystyn was a Polish professor of philosophy who fled Poland c. 1830 to escape persecution amidst the November Uprising. He abandoned his teaching position at the University of Warsaw and started a new life in England, where he married Sarah Somerville of Plymouth.
Wladislaw was born on 25 December 1841 in nearby Devonport (which was still a town as it had not yet been assimilated by the city of Plymouth). He had one younger brother, Stanislaw Stuart Lach-Szyrma, who died in infancy (18 February 1844 – 19 June 1844).
Wladislaw married twice. His second wife, Rosina Atkinson (1846–1929), bore 13 children.
After studying the classics in a Literae Humaniores course at Brasenose College, Oxford, Wladislaw accepted a curacy in Pensilva; so began a life of service to the Church of England in Cornwall. In 1869 he took the curacy at St Paul's in Truro, followed in 1871 by another in Carnmenellis. He became ill during a visit to Paris; after a short recovery, he returned to England to find that several newspapers had published his obituary. From 1873 until 1890 he served as vicar of St. Peter's Church in the port town of Newlyn.
Wladislaw Lach-Szyrma was keenly interested in the history of Cornwall. He wrote prolifically about the churches and antiquities there—especially those of the district around Penzance. He was also a pioneering writer of science fiction. His 1883 novel, Aleriel, or A Voyage to Other Worlds, was one of the first works to use the word Martian as a noun.
He died in Barkingside, Essex on 25 June 1915.