Witte S.Y. (1849-1915), statesman

Categories / Capital/Personalia
WITTE Sergey Yulievich (1849-1915, П.), count (1905), statesman, Actual Privy Counsellor (1899), Secretary of State (1896), Honorary Member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1893). After graduating from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Novorossysk University (1870), he served for the Railroad Department. From 1889, headed St Petersburg's Railroad Department of the Ministry of Finance; in February 1892, he headed the Ministry of Railways; from August 1892 till 1903, he was Minister of Finance. In this post, he encouraged railroad construction throughout the country in every possible direction, carrying out a number of important economic reforms, including beginning the circulation of gold (1897), reforming the commercial tax system (1898), and generally promoting rapid development of large-scale industry, internal trade, and foreign commerce. He initiated the creation of the Special Meeting for the Needs of the Agricultural Industry (1902), and established the Polytechnic Institute in St Petersburg. He was Head of the Special Committee for the Construction of the Monument to Emperor Alexander III in St Petersburg (erected in 1909 on Znamenskaya Square). From 1903-06, he was Chairman of the Cabinet; in 1905, he successfully carried out peace negotiations with Japan at Portsmouth (was granted the title of Count of the Russian Empire). One of the authors of the Manifesto issued on 17 October 1905. In 1905-06, he was Chairman of the Council of Ministers. In 1906, he retired (remaining a member of State Assembly), though he did not enjoy Emperor Nicholas II's favour. He was an Honorary Member of the Amateur Society of Natural Science, Anthropology and Ethnography (1892), the Petersburg Amateur Society of Homeopathy (1894), the Petersburg Technological Institute (honorary production engineer; 1894), the Russian Geographic Society (1895), the Society for the Development and Promotion of Russian Commercial Navigation (1896), and many other societies; he took part in the work of a number of charitable organizations, made a considerable contribution to the Mariinskaya Barracks Hospital and other establishments in St Petersburg. He owned a mansion in St Petersburg (5 Kamennoostrovsky Avenue, 1898, architect E. F. Wirrich; memorial plaque installed). Witte's Memoirs are one of the best samples of Russian memoir art (unabridged edition - volume. 1-2 (in 3 books). St. Petersburg, 2002). Buried at the Lazarevskoe Cemetery at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

References: Ананьич Б. В., Ганелин Р. Ш. С. Ю. Витте - мемуарист. СПб., 1994; Их же. С. Ю. Витте и его время. СПб., 1999; С. Ю. Витте - выдающийся государственный деятель России: Тез. докл. и сообщ. науч. конф., посвящ. 150-летию со дня рождения С. Ю. Витте. СПб., 1999.

D. N. Shilov. Alexander III, Emperor
Nicholas II, Emperor
Wirrich Ernest-Friedrich Franzevich
Witte Sergey Yulievich, Count
Kamennoostrovsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 5
Vosstaniya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Ананьич Б. В., Ганелин Р. Ш. С. Ю. Витте - мемуарист. СПб., 1994
Ананьич Б. В., Ганелин Р. Ш. С. Ю. Витте и его время. СПб., 1999
С. Ю. Витте - выдающийся государственный деятель России: Тез. докл. и сообщ. науч. конф., посвящ. 150-летию со дня рождения С. Ю. Витте. СПб., 1999 Russian Academy of Sciences
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Transport Communications
Polytechnical University
State Assembly
Russian Geographical Society
Lazarevskaya Burial Vault