Bobrinsky

For a list of people with the surname, seeBobrinsky (surname).

Arms of the Bobrinsky family

TheCounts BobrinskyorBobrinskoy(Бобринские) are aRussian noblefamily descending from CountAleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky(1762–1813), who wasCatherine the Great's natural son by CountGrigory Orlov.

The first Count Bobrinsky

The Bobrinsky Palace on the Admiralty Canal Embankment

The first Count Bobrinsky

EmpressCatherine IIgave birth to her only official illegitimate son on April 11, 1762, several months before her ascension to the throne. Catherine had to conceal the pregnancy. When the due date came, to distract her husband, EmperorPeter III,her trusted servant Vasily Shkurin was ordered to burn his own house, knowing that the Emperor had a passion to watch the fires.The child was named Aleksey after his uncle and godfather, CountAleksey Orlov.He was brought up inBobriki,a village in theTulaguberniya.On April 2, 1781, Catherine sent him a letter, in which she openly avowed her maternity. She named him Bobrinsky, a surname derived from the estate he lived in. On the 5th day of his reign,Emperor Paulmade his half-brother a count of theRussian Empireand promoted him to general-major. He married Baroness Anna Dorotheavon Ungern-Sternberg(1769–1846) and had issue that continues to this day. The first Count Bobrinsky died on June 20, 1813, in his estate of Bogoroditsk, to the east ofTula.

Bobrinsky Palace, the Bobrinsky family seat inBogoroditsk,was designed byIvan Starovand constructed in the 1770s and 1780s, starting in 1773. The nearby Kazanskaya church was completed by 1778. The park was laid out by the palace's administrator,Andrey Bolotov(1738–1833), who is better known as one of the first Russian economists. It was Bolotov who established the Children's Theatre in Bogoroditsk. The palace and estate were renovated in the 1870s. In the 20th century, the premises suffered enormous damage from theBolsheviks,who demolished the wings of the palace in 1929, and from theWehrmacht,who blew up the chateau in December 1941. The palace was restored in the 1960s and now functions as a museum.

Bobrinskys in business

TheBogoroditsk Estateof the first count was designed byIvan Starovand landscaped byAndrei Bolotov

Aleksey's son CountAleksey Alekseyevich Bobrinsky(1800–1868)is remembered as the founder of the sugar-processing industry in Imperial Russia. After brief and uneventful career at the royal court, he retired from service and settled in Bogoroditsk, establishing one of the firstRussiansugar refineries there. Later, he moved his operations toUkraine,making various agricultural activities the chief source of his family income. It was thanks to him that Russia stopped importing sugar from abroad. He also published a treatise on economic theory and set up a society for development of railways, which financed the construction of the first railway in Russia. Bobrinsky's contributions to the national economics were commemorated by a bronze statue inKiev.

The Bobrinsky burial vault in Bobriki

AScythian golden combextracted by Aleksey A. Bobrinsky Jr from theSolokhaburial mound

Unlike many other Russian nobles, the Bobrinskys continued as prosperous businessmen after the 1861emancipation of serfs,startingcoalmining in their estates near Tula and helping to build railways all over Russia. Aleksey Alekseyevich's second son CountVladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky(1824–1898) served as Minister of Transportation in 1868–1871, succeeded in this post by his cousin, CountAleksey Pavlovich Bobrinsky(1826–1894).

Bobrinskys in politics

The eldest great-grandson of Count Aleksey Alekseyevich was CountAleksei Aleksandrovich Bobrinsky(1852–1927), who led theCouncil of United Nobilitystarting in 1906 and represented the nobility of theSt Petersburgguberniya in theSenateand the 3rdState Duma.He was appointed into theState Council of Imperial Russiain 1912. DuringWorld War I,Bobrinskoy was elected Chairman of theRussian-English Bank.In 1916, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Interior and Minister of Agriculture. TheOctober Revolutionforced him to emigrate toFrance,where he actively campaigned for the monarchist cause.

CountVladimir Alekseyevich Bobrinsky(1868–1927) was the third son of Count Aleksey Pavlovich. He was educated atMonkton Combe School,nearBath, Somerset,together with three of his younger brothers.He represented Russian nationalists in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th State Dumas, advocating speedyRussificationof border regions and supportingPyotr Stolypin's reforms. Like most of the Bobrinskys, he emigrated to France following the revolutionary nationalization of their family enterprises. He is buried in the cemetery atMontmartre.

Bobrinskys in science

Apart from politics, Count Aleksey Alexandrovich was a noted historian and archaeologist, Chairman of the Imperial Archaeological Commission (1886), Vice-President of theImperial Academy of Arts(1889), and Chairman of the Free Economic Society (1894). He led the excavations ofScythianmounds nearKerchand Kiev, describing some of his findings in the monograph on TauricChersonesos(1905). He was in charge of the extraction and publication of thePereshchepina hoard.

Vladimir's nephew, CountNikolay Alekseyevich Bobrinsky(1890–1964) specialized inbiology.Unlike his relatives, he chose to remain inMoscowafter the revolution and came to be recognized as one of the most prominent Sovietzoologists.A species ofjerboais named after him. His son Nikolay Nikolayevich, a geographer, who wrote a novel on the life of the first Bobrinsky, lived in Moscow until his death in 2000.

CountAlexey Alexeyevich Bobrinsky(1861–1938) was the last owner of the Bobriki estate. A scholarly ethnographer, he organized three expeditions to the tribes and villagers in thePamir Mountains,accompanied by a photographer and a linguist. His observations were published and are now available in an archive in theState Historical Museum.Another part of his collections of utensils and folk art, including theBobrinski bucket,is at theHermitage Museum.After the revolutions of 1917, he settled at his villa inSeis am Schlern.The Ismaili peoples among whom he travelled respect his work and reputation. The 150th anniversary of his birth was celebrated in 2011.

External links

• Homepage of the Bogoroditsk Museum
• Bobrinsky Estate in Bogoroditsk
• Marek, Miroslav."Genealogy of the Bobrinsky family".Genealogy EU.