Prince Nicholay Borisovich Shcherbatov (in Russian: Николай Борисович Щербатов), born on 22 January 1868 (corresponds to 3 February in the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

) in

Tsarskoe Selo Tsarskoye Selo ( rus, Ца́рское Село́, p=ˈtsarskəɪ sʲɪˈlo, a=Ru_Tsarskoye_Selo.ogg, "Tsar's Village") was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the c ...

, and died on 29 June 1943 in Starnberg, Bavaria. He was a Russian politician and served as the minister of the Interior from 5 June 1915 to 26 September 1915.

Life

He was born as prince Nikolai Borisovich Shcherbatov in the princely

Rurik dynasty The Rurik dynasty ( be, Ру́рыкавічы, Rúrykavichy; russian: Рю́риковичи, Ryúrikovichi, ; uk, Рю́риковичі, Riúrykovychi, ; literally "sons/scions of Rurik"), also known as the Rurikid dynasty or Rurikids, was ...

. He came out a graduate of the

Corps of Pages The Page Corps (russian: Пажеский корпус; french: Corps des Pages) was a military academy in Imperial Russia, which prepared sons of the nobility and of senior officers for military service. Similarly, the Imperial School of Jurisprud ...

, as early as 1889. He served in the famous 44e regiment of dragoons of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

. In 1892, he was transferred to a regiment of reserve cavalry guards. By 1889 two members of the Russian nobility, Count Stroganov and Prince Shcherbatov, established Arabian

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word " stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, documentation ...

s to meet the continued need to breed Arabians as a source of pure bloodstock.

Political career

Between 1895 and 1897, he held posts at the

Ministry of State Property The Ministry of State Property, sometimes translated as the Ministry of State Domains, (russian: Министерство государственных имуществ (МГИ), ''Ministerstvo gosudarstvennykh imushestv (MGI)'') was the minis ...

, and then returned to live on his domain, located in the province of Poltava, where he owned distilleries and beet-sugar factories. In 1905 the prince managed to gather around him a circle of moderate supporters in the

Kharkov Governorate The Kharkov Governorate ( pre-reform Russian: , tr. ''Khárkovskaya gubérniya'', IPA: �xarʲkəfskəjə ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə ) was a governorate of the Russian Empire founded in 1835. It embraced the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine. Fro ...

. He was one of the founders of the right wing Party of Law and Order. In December 1905, the party held a meeting 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 ...

, the assembly appointed to sit as a member of the imperial Council of the Party of Law and Order. Some time later, he was elected president of the same party. During the holding of congresses of the workers working in rural and urban areas, the prince served as a delegate of the zemstvos of the governorate of Poltava. From 1905 to 1907, after having been elected, Chtcherbatov served as a member of the United Nobility. In 1907, during the convocation of the

Third Duma The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the Governing Senate in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council. It held its meetings in the Taurida Palace in St. Petersburg. It convened four times ...

and the Russian nobility, the prince sat in the quality of voter. In 1907, the prince was elected Marshal of Nobility of the

Poltava Oblast Poltava Oblast ( uk, Полта́вська о́бласть, translit=Poltavska oblast; also referred to as Poltavshchyna – uk, Полта́вщина, literally 'Poltava Country') is an oblast (province) of central Ukraine. The administrative ...

. In 1909, he was entrusted the charge of

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

. He was one of the founders of the all-Russian Bank for grain trade (1910). In 1912, elected, he served as State councillor of the centre right to the zemstvo of Poltava. On 1 January 1913,

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

gave him the task of managing the production of the breeding of horses as a great connoisseur of race horses. On 5 June 1915, during World War I, the prince succeeded Nikolay Maklakov on the post of minister of the Interior; he headed the

Special Corps of Gendarmes The Separate Corps of Gendarmes (russian: Отдельный корпус жандармов) was the uniformed security police of the Imperial Russian Army in the Russian Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its main responsibilitie ...

, the uniformed security police. In opposition circles Shcherbatov was seen as a possible candidate for the presidency of the Council of Ministers in the "Ministry of confidence." On 26 September 1915, the prince resigned from his post of minister of the Interior.

Alexei Khvostov Aleksey Nikolayevich Khvostov () (1 July 1872 – 23 August 1918) was a right-wing Russian politician and the leader of the Russian Assembly. He was a governor, a Privy Councillor (Russia), a chamberlain, a member of the Black Hundreds, and ant ...

succeeded him. In the same year, he was elected to the

State Council of Imperial Russia The State Council ( rus, Госуда́рственный сове́т, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj sɐˈvʲet) was the supreme state advisory body to the Tsar in Imperial Russia. From 1906, it was the upper house of the parliament under the ...

by the

zemstvo A ''zemstvo'' ( rus, земство, p=ˈzʲɛmstvə, plural ''zemstva'' – rus, земства) was an institution of local government set up during the great emancipation reform of 1861 carried out in Imperial Russia by Emperor Alexande ...

of Poltava. Shcherbatov issued "On the prohibition of the slaughter for sale of calves and the sale and purchase of these calves" (1916), and "On measures to reduce the consumption of meat and meat products from cattle, calves, sheep, pigs and piglets" (1916).

Exile

After the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mome ...

, the prince moved to Germany. From 4 April to 11 April 1926 he attended the meeting of the Russian Foreign Congress at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, which brought together representatives of Russian diasporas from 26 countries. He died in Starnberg, a shelter for millionaires.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shcherbatov, Nikolai Borisovich 1868 births 1943 deaths Politicians of the Russian Empire Interior ministers of Russia Arabian breeders and trainers