He was born the only child of Karol Henckel von Donnersmarck and Eugenii Wengersky von Ungarschütz. In 1832 he inherited his father"s possessions in Bytom,Upper Silesia and began his involvement in agriculture, livestock, and heavy industry.
He built the first puddling and Steel rolling mill in Germany at Laurahiitte (Siemianowice Śląskie). In 1846 he inherited Henckel von Donnersmarck family possessions in Carinthia. In particular Wolfsberg and Bad Sankt Leonhard in Lavanttal.
Here he reorganized the steel industry and moved it from Frantschach-Sankt Gertraud in the Wolfsberg district to Zeltweg in Styria, where he had a puddling and steel rolling mill soon built.
By 1871 the company Vereinigte Königsund Laurahütte was a major part of its coal and steel industry in Upper Silesia. To compensate the town of Frantschach for the loss of its steel industry he set up a soda-pulp and paper mill in 1881/82, which is still called Mondi Packaging Frantschach GmbH which is still the largest employer in Frantschach.
He rebuilt Castle Wolfsberg in neo-Gothic Tudor style was renewed.
