Victor James de Spiganovicz was born in Odessa on 15 October 1881, the son of Baron Julian James de Spiganovicz, (1831-1902) a Polish/Lituanian nobleman, and his Anglo-Italian wife, Lyudmilla Elizabeth Prout (1842-1918), daughter of John Prout MD of Wickwar, Gloucestershire.  He had a sister and four elder brothers, including Arthur Julian (d.1925) who became a doctor in Tranent.   

He was articled to Edinburgh School Board architect Robert Wilson in August 1898. When Wilson died in 1901, Spiganovicz continued as assistant to John Alexander Carfrae, his successor as School Board architect. De Spiganovicz left Carfrae at the beginning of 1908 and spent several months in America before commencing practice on his own account in Edinburgh. 

He was admitted LRIBA in the mass intake of 20 July 1911, proposed by James Bow Dunn and the Edinburgh Architectural Association. His office at that date was at 1 South Charlotte Street, and his nomination papers state that prior to that he had also travelled in France and Belgium, and had written three booklets on social problems. A pamphlet by him entitled 'Modern Humanity' had been published by J Bain & Sons earlier that year, and was described in 'The Scotsman' as 'a descriptive essay which touches lightly, yet thoughtfully, on the characteristics of the various ages of man, and on the pleasures and riddles of life'.   His autobiography was entitled ‘Mystery man again - Reminiscences of a Tramp’’ (1924).  De Spiganovicz wrote to 'The Scotsman' in 1932, his letter on the phenomenon of déjà-vu entitled 'A Curious Mental Sensation' being published on 13 April that year.

In 1960 he appeared on ‘This is Your Life’.   https://www.bigredbook.info/victor_despiganovicz.html 

Further information can be found here; https://threadinburgh.scot/2024/04/13/the-thread-about-the-causewayside-lads-institute-and-the-wandering-life-of-victor-de-spiganovicz-self-described-mystery-man/