English: I have walked by this plaque at least once per week for about 40 years and never paid any attention to it as I had believed it to be business ‘Brass Plate’ for Clerys department store [no longer trading]

Sir Paweł Edmund Strzelecki KCB CMG FRGS F.R.S. 24 June 1797 – 6 October 1873), also known as Paul Edmund de Strzelecki, was a Polish explorer and geologist who in 1845 also became a British subject.

Towards the end of 1846, the Great Irish Famine was under way and the British Relief Association formed with the sum of £500,000 subscribed for the relief of the sufferers. Strzelecki was appointed an agent of the Association to superintend the distribution of supplies in County Sligo and County Mayo. He devoted himself to his task with success, though for a time incapacitated by famine fever. In 1847/48 he continued his work in Dublin as sole agent for the association. In recognition of his services he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in November 1848. He helped impoverished Irish families to seek new lives in Australia. He was also active in helping injured soldiers during the Crimean War (being personally acquainted with Florence Nightingale).

He arrived back to London in 1849, where he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and awarded a Gold medal for "exploration in the south eastern portion of Australia". The society still displays his huge geological map of New South Wales and Tasmania for public viewing. He was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society. He gained widespread recognition as an explorer as well as a philanthropist.

Strzelecki died in 1873 in London of liver cancer and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. In 1997 his remains were transferred to the crypt of merit of St. Wojciech Church in his home town of Poznań, Poland.