Regina-Louise von Freedricksz Regina-Louise "Irina" von Freedricksz née ''Christineck'' (1735-1821), was a Russian baroness and

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

. Regina-Louise von Freedricksz was born into a German family in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. She married baron Ivan von Freedricksz (1723-1779), court banker to empress

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, with whom she had nine children. In 1773, her spouse bought lands around

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga (; rus, Ла́дожское о́зеро, r=Ladozhskoye ozero, p=ˈladəʂskəjə ˈozʲɪrə or rus, Ла́дога, r=Ladoga, p=ˈladəɡə, fi, Laatokka arlier in Finnish ''Nevajärvi'' ; vep, Ladog, Ladoganjärv) is a fresh ...

, where he founded the estate Irinovka (named after her), where he managed a peat-extraction enterprise, an ironwork and a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

farm. The following year, Regina-Louise herself founded a

crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

works by the

Marya river The Marya are a tribe in western Eritrea. They are mostly shepherds and farmers they inhabit the middle valley of the Anseba River in the Keren District. There split into two clans: the Marya qeyih and the marya tselam. They are related to the Me ...

. In contrast to Western Europe, where married women where under the legal guardianship of their husbands, the Russian law of 1753 acknowledged married women the right to own and manage property in their own name independent from their husbands. In the late 18th-century, nobles founding factories was not unusual in Russia, where the merchant class was still small, and some noblewomen became successful industrialists: out of fourteen female factory owners in lat 18th-century Northern Russa, ten where noblewomen. Regina-Louise von Freedricksz was successful as an industrialist, and in 1794, she founded a second factory at Irinovka estate. Her two factories produced 400 crates per annum of high quality to a value of 24800 ''

roubles The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

''. Initially she managed them herself, but she eventually leased them to Franz Nachmann, Sebastian Nachmann and Anna Erofeeva. She sold the factories in 1812, and they continued to function until 1912.

References

* Johanna Ilmakunnas, Marjatta Rahikainen, Kirsi Vainio-Korhonen
''Early Professional Women in Northern Europe, C. 1650–1850''
2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Freedricksz, Regina-Louise von 1735 births 1821 deaths 18th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire 18th-century women from the Russian Empire 19th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire 19th-century businesswomen from the Russian Empire 18th-century businesswomen from the Russian Empire