Ponomarev P. I. (1774-1853), entrepreneur

Categories / Economy/Personalia
PONOMAREV Prokopy Ivanovich (1774-1853, St. Petersburg), entrepreneur, public figure, patron of arts, first-guild merchant, Collegiate Counsellor (1848). A wholesale trader in tea, sugar, and cloth dyes in the 18th century, he became a member of the Council of State Credit Institutions from 1827, the Manufactory Council from 1829, the Special Committee for Auditing Bank Accounts and Books in 1827-53, the Committee for Drafting Bills of Exchange and Loan Letters from 1828, and the Committee for Building a Permanent Bridge over the Neva River from 1841. Ponomarev was also a member of the Committee for St. Petersburg House Surveying in 1819-23. He was elected presiding supervisor of the St. Petersburg Court of Wards in 1824-27, member of the Committee for Assisting Flood Victims in 1824, and member of the Committee for the Temporary Cholera Hospital, which was set up by city merchants. He was also a member of the Committee of the Society for Oversight of Prisons and the Committee of the Poverty Status Board from 1834, an honorary member of St. Petersburg Commercial School from 1834, Demidov's House of Mercy for Working People, the Imperial Philanthropic Society, the Medical Philanthropic Committee, the Children's Hospital, the Low Vision Clinic, Elizavetinskaya Infants' Hospital, and the Commercial Boarding House. Ponomarev made significant donations to victims of the Patriotic War of 1812, the flood of 1824, and the cholera epidemic of 1830, as well as to Demidov's House of Mercy for Working People and its church, etc. He was entitled to the Russian Empire nobility for his charity work in 1832. The founder of churches at Volkovskoe Orthodox Cemetery in 1810-50, he financed the construction of the All Saints Church, also known as Ponomarev's Church, at the cemetery in 1850-52. The church became the burial vault for members of his family. He was buried in his family vault. His grave was destroyed when the church was demolished in 1931. Ponomarev's house on Petergofskaya Road near the Triumphal Arch (not preserved) was poetised by G. R. Derzhavin.

Reference: Богданов И. А. "Краса купечества..." // Нева. 1998. № 1. С. 224-230; Его же. "...ревностнейший участник и учредитель" // История Петербурга. 2001. № 1. С. 20-25.

I. A. Bogdanov. Derzhavin Gavriil Romanovich
Ponomarev Prokopy Ivanovich
Богданов И. А. "Краса купечества..." // Нева, 1998
Богданов И. А. "... ревностнейший участник и учредитель" // История Петербурга, 2001