British

Categories / Population/Ethnic Groups
BRITISH, an ethnic community forming a part of the St. Petersburg population. The English language belongs to the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. Believers are Anglicans and representatives of various Protestant Churches. Since the 18th century immigrants from Great Britain have worked at the Admiralty shipyard (O. Nigh, R. Cosens), lectured at Navy Academy (A. Farvarson, S. Green). In 1723 an English Church and a trading post of English Trading Company were opened in St. Petersburg. In the 18th century the English settlement consisted mostly of merchants staying at Petersburg and settling around present Angliiskaya (English) Embankment. In the second half of the 18th century admiral S.K. Greig made an important contribution to the development of the Russian Navy, on his invitation engineer K.K. Gascoigne came to Russia. In 18th -19th centuries the English founded a number of manufacturing enterprises in St. Petersburg, among the most eminent entrepreneurs K.K. Berd is to be mentioned. In 1868 J. Murged established the mechanical plant (the present Sverdlov Plant). The activity of English missionary lord G. Redstock (who came to St. Petersburg in 1874) provoked the advent of Evangelic Christian communities. The English community has never been large (in 1869 - 2,100 people, in 1910 - 2,200 people) and has always retained close connections with its native land. After October 1917, practically all the English emigrated.

References: Чеснокова А. Н. Британцы в Петербурге. СПб., 2002; Cross A. G. By the Banks of the Neva. Cambridge, 1997.

A. Y. Chistyakov. Bird Karl (Charles) Nikolaevich
Cosens Richard
Farvarson A.
Gascoigne Karl Karlovich (Charles)
Green S.
Greig Samuel Karlovich
Murged J.
Nigh O.
Redstock Grenville-Vildigreve
Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Чеснокова А. Н. Британцы в Петербурге. СПб., 2002
Cross A. G. By the Banks of the Neva. Cambridge, 1997 Admiralty Shipyard
Sverdlov, Plant