Polovtsov А.А. (1832-1909) statesman, entrepreneur

Categories / Economy/Personalia
Categories / Capital/Personalia
POLOVTSOV Alexander Alexandrovich (1832, estate in Rapti Luzhsky Uyezd, St. Petersburg Province - 1909, same place), statesman, entrepreneur, patron of arts, Actual Privy Counsellor (1885), Secretary of State (1883), honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg (1884), honorary member of the Acedemy of Arts (1869). After graduating from the School of Law in St. Petersburg in 1851, he worked in the Senate at first as a servant, a senator from 1873, the Secretary of State in 1883-92, and a member of the State Council from 1892. He took part in the meeting held in 1906 to consider changes suggested by the State Council and the State Duma. Married to Nadezhda Mikhailovna Iyuneva (1843-1908), a foster daughter of baron A. L. Stieglitz (see the Stieglitzs) in 1861, he received a million roubles as a marriage portion and inherited a fortune of 16-17 million roubles after Stieglitz had died. The owner of Gorno-Bogoslovsky District and a number of enterprises, he invested a lot of money in the industry of the Urals Region. One of the founders of the Russian Historic Society, its secretary from 1866 and chairman from 1879, Polovtsov financed the Society's publications such as the Dictionary of Russian Biographies and the Almanac of the Russian Historic Society. He was a member of the Russian Archaeological Society, Russian Geographical Society, Law Society of St. Petersburg University, and a number of charitable societies. He founded and financed Stieglitz Central Technical Drawing School and a school museum. Polovtsov owned a mansion in St. Petersburg at 52 Bolshaya Morskaya Street (see Polovtsov's House) and dachas in Tsarskoe Selo and St. Petersburg, re-built for his son in 1911-16 (see Polovtsov's Dacha). He was buried in his estate in Rapti. Polovtsov's Diary published in two volumes in 1966 contains valuable information on the life of officialdom and the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg.

References: Шилов Д. Н. "Русский биографический словарь": история подготовки и издания // Английская набережная, 4. СПб., 1997. С. 229-260.

D. N. Shilov. Iyuneva Nadezhda Mikhailovna
Polovtsov Alexander Alexandrovich
Stieglitz Alexander Ludwigovich, Baron
Bolshaya Morskaya St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 52
Шилов Д. Н. "Русский биографический словарь": история подготовки и издания // Английская набережная, 4. СПб., 1997 Russian Academy of Sciences
Academy of Arts
Academy of Arts
Law School
Senate
State Assembly
State Duma
Russian Historical Society
Law Society
Stieglitz Central Technical Drawing School
Polovtsov, House of
Polovtsov Dacha (Summer Residence)