Jacob von Sievers
Jacob von Sievers | |
|---|---|
| File:Jacob Sievers by Joseph Grassi.JPG Portrait by Josef Grassi, 1790–1795 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 August 1731 Wesenberg, Governorate of Estonia, Russian Empire |
| Died | 23 July 1808 (aged 76) Bauenhof, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | File:Flag of Russia.svg Russia |
| Battles/wars | |
Jacob Johann Graf[1] von Sievers (Russian: Я́ков Ефи́мович Си́верс, romanized: Yakov Yefimovich Sivers; 30 August 1731 – 23 July 1808) was a Russian statesman of Baltic German origin.[2] He was from the Sievers family, originating in Livonia.[2] From 1764 to 1781, he served as the governor of Novgorod.[2]
Biography
[edit | edit source]He was born into the family of a Livonian nobleman.[2] At the age of 12, he was moved to St. Petersburg by his uncle, whose daughter he later married.[2] Sievers worked as a scribe in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs and later served in the Russian embassies in Denmark and Britain.[2]
During the Seven Years' War, he served in the Russian army as quartermaster general and participated in the battles of Gross-Jägersdorf and Zorndorf.[2] He was then appointed governor of Novgorod in 1764 by Catherine II and he held that position until 1781.[2] Catherine accepted many of his proposals after he wrote a report and insisted on the demarcation of lands and the creation of an agricultural society.[2] As a result, he was one of the founders of the Free Economic Society.[2] He also introduced the cultivation of potatoes to Russia, regulated the postal services, and was instrumental in the abolition of torture in 1767.[2]
Based on Sievers' initiative, the provincial government reform was instituted; he was himself appointed general governor of Novgorod, Tver and Pskov. He was Russian ambassador to Poland and led the second and third partition of the kingdom. Emperor Paul I of Russia appointed him senator in 1796; in 1797 he became head of the new department for water communications. He was knighted in 1798.
In Sievers' honor, Alexander I named the channel that connects the outlet of the Msta River with the Volkhov river the Sievers Canal.
Notes and references
[edit | edit source]Sources
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- Blum, Karl Ludwig: Ein russischer Staatsmann, Denkwürdigkeiten des Grafen von Sievers, Leipzig 1857–58, 4 vols.
- Blum, Karl Ludwig: Graf Jacob Johann von Sievers und Russland zu dessen Zeit. Leipzig; Heidelberg: Winter, 1864
- Jones, Robert E: Provincial Development in Russia. Catherine II and Jacob Sievers. Rutgers University Press, 1984
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External links
[edit | edit source]
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- 1731 births
- 1808 deaths
- 18th-century politicians from the Russian Empire
- 19th-century politicians from the Russian Empire
- Ambassadors of the Russian Empire to Poland
- Active Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)
- Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire
- Counts of the Russian Empire
- People from Rakvere
- People from Kreis Wierland
- Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class
- Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class
- Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)
- Russian military personnel of the Seven Years' War
- Senators of the Russian Empire