Prokofi Akinfiyevich Demidov (1710–1786) was a Russian industrialist and philanthropist. The eldest son of

Akinfiy Demidov Akinfiy Nikitich Demidov (russian: Акинфий Никитич Демидов) (1678 Tula - 5 August 1745 Yatskoye Ustye, Menzelinsky Uyezd, Orenburg Governorate) was a Russian industrialist of the Demidov family. Life He was the eldest so ...

, Prokofi inherited the enormous

Demidov The House of Demidov (russian: Деми́довы) also Demidoff, was a prominent Russian Empire, Russian noble family during the 18th and 19th centuries. Originating in the city of Tula, Russia, Tula in the 17th century, the Demidovs found suc ...

family fortune on his father's death in 1745. He gave freely to charitable works, founding an orphanage and a scientific institute in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and a school of commerce in

Saint 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 ...

, as well as financing the opera in Saint Petersburg and hundreds of people's schools and philanthropic institutions across Russia. His eccentricities were famous and, because he thought he had been deceived by British merchants during a stay in England, one day he bought all the available hemp to "teach the English a lesson". Even so, he managed to increase the family fortune so that, on his death, he owned 55 foundries and metallurgical factories. His tomb is in the

Donskoy Monastery Donskoy Monastery (russian: Донско́й монасты́рь) is a major monastery in Moscow, founded in 1591 in commemoration of Moscow's deliverance from the threat of an invasion by the Crimean Khan (title), Khan Ğazı II Giray, Kazy-G ...

. Demidov was interested in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, wrote a treatise on

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

, collected a

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

, and had a number of birds caged in his house. A catalogue of his plants was prepared by

Peter Simon Pallas Peter Simon Pallas Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian zoologist and botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810. Life and work Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son ...

. His manuscript of

Kirsha Danilov Kirsha Danilov (Russian: Кирша Данилов) was the supposed compiler of a collection of Russian heroic, religious and humorous folksongs that made its first appearance in print in 1804. The anthology is entitled ''The Ancient Russian Poems ...

's folk songs is preserved in the

Russian National Library The National Library of Russia (NLR, russian: Российская национальная библиотека}), located in Saint Petersburg, is the first, and one of three national public libraries in Russia. The NLR is currently ranked amo ...

. He married firstly Matryona Antipovna Pastukhova (1711-1764) and secondly Tatyana Vasilievna Semyonova (1746-1800). He had nine children with the first wife and three children with the second wife. His children that lived to adults were: * Lev Prokofievich Demidov (1738-1801); married Avdotya Vasilievna Molchanova, had issue (11 children). * Akaki Prokofievich Demidov (1740-1811); married three times: Anna Demidova; Alexandra Ivanovna Alfimova (five children) and Anna Vasilievna. * Anna Prokofievna Demidova (1751-1828); married Danila Danilovich Zemskoy, had issue (three children). * Ammos Prokofievich Demidov (1753-1806); married Anna Nikiforovna Vyazemskaya, had issue (five children). * Nastasya Prokofievna Demidova (1754-1777); married Sergei Kirillovich Stanislavsky (1721-1776). No issue. * Natalya Prokofievna Demidova (1765-1783); married? * Anastasia Prokofievna Demidova (1768-1802); married Mark Ivanovich Khozikov, had issue (four children). * Matrjona Prokofievna Demidova (- c. 1784); married Grigory Ivanovich Shchepochkin, had issue (seven children).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Demidov 1710 births 1786 deaths 18th-century businesspeople from the Russian Empire Prokofi Place of birth missing 18th-century philanthropists