The leader of the nobility is an elected and very important position in the system of local self-government and administration of the nobility. It was established by its decree by Catherine II in 1785. The post of the leader of the nobility, its varieties and features will be described in this essay.
First variety
There were two types of positions of leaders - these are county and provincial. The district leader of the nobility was elected by the respective branches. The elected leader became the chairman of the district council after the appointment of the governor.
He also held the chairmanship in the school council, congress, and in a number of local bodies. Such a leader of the nobility was elected for a term of three years. It is worth noting that for his service he did not receive absolutely any monetary or other remuneration. This circumstance made the position held very honorable.
Responsibilities
The county leader of the nobility, in addition to fulfilling the class noble duties assigned to him, was actively involved in the general state activity. The law provided for membership, as well as the chairmanship of a number of commissions, which represented various types of government in the county.
The position of the leader in the county was also very responsible because in the Russian Empire the administrative system did not provide for a single leader, as well as one administration of the county level. In the provincial system, however, everything was different.
The leader of the nobility (county) was a member of many county organizations and institutions. He acted as a kind of link between the de facto scattered institutions and the county head. After being the leader of the nobility for 3 three-year terms, he received the rank of state adviser (V class). It should be noted that the county leaders were independent and did not obey the provincial leaders.
Provincial leader of the nobility
This post was also an elected one. After his approval, he became the leader of the nobles in the entire province. He was elected, like the county, for a term of three years. It is worth noting that the number of officials in the state was minimal. The county and provincial leaders had only their own secretary, as well as several clerks. At a county or provincial congress, a separate secretary was provided.
The provincial leader did not have a salary or other remuneration for his activities. At the same time, a large number of responsibilities were entrusted to him. He was considered a person who is in active public service.
Regardless of whether the leader had a cool rank, he was "mediocre." This is a person holding a position and performing the duties assigned to him, while enjoying certain advantages and rights.
However, the leaders of the nobility were considered as such only at the time they occupied their position. For example, they had the right to own land, were exempted from military service, zemstvo duties. And also had the right to enter the service in the Imperial Palace, and immediately in the officer rank. They were awarded the rank of real state adviser of the fourth class.
Features
Unlike the county, the provincial leader of the nobility received the rank of state adviser (V class) after three years of service. And in the case of length of service three times in three years, he was awarded the rank of IV class. An interesting fact: as mentioned earlier, the leaders did not have a salary, but they had the right to receive a pension.
In no case could the position of leader be combined with any established posts in the civil, state or military services. An exception was only in the Astrakhan and three provinces of the Caucasus region.
The duties of the provincial leader of the nobility in fact consisted of two completely unrelated parts. He conducted noble affairs as a chosen person at a meeting of the self-government of the nobles, while submitting to the province. He performed administrative and state affairs as an appointed official, responsible directly to the emperor.
Noble elections
Elections of the noble leader were held in all regions and provinces of the Russian Empire. The only exceptions were those areas in which the nobility was small and could not fill elected posts. These were the Vyatka, Arkhangelsk, Perm, Olonets provinces and all other regions of Siberia.
In the North-West of the empire, the leaders of the nobility were not elected, but appointed. This was due to the fact that in those areas noblemen of Polish origin predominated, and their presence in the post in question was undesirable.
The appointment was made by the Governor-General or the Minister of the Interior. In the Ostezey provinces (the territory of the present Baltic), the noble institutions were somewhat different from the main all-Russian ones, but, nevertheless, they had submissions, like the main ones, and the elections were carried out according to special rules.
Next, two of the representatives of the leaders of the Russian nobility in such provinces as Tambov and Yaroslavl will be considered.
Nikolai Nikolaevich Cholokaev
The last Tambov leader of the nobility in the period from 1891 to 1917. was Nikolai Nikolaevich Cholokaev. The years of his life 1830-1920 He was a prominent statesman, active state adviser, member of the State Council. Nikolay Nikolaevich was born in a noble landowning family in the Morshansk district of the Tambov province.
In 1852, he graduated from Moscow University, Faculty of Natural Sciences. In the period from 1853 to 1859, he was an honorary trustee of the Shatsk district school, and from 1858 he was a member of the Tambov provincial committee, which was engaged in improving peasant life.
Taking office
After serfdom was abolished in 1861, N. N. Cholokaev assumed the position of world mediator and served in it for 7 years. From 1868 to 1870, after the introduction of the provision on justices of the peace in the Tambov province, he was a district magistrate in the Morshansky district. In addition, for 12 years, starting in 1876, Cholokaev was a member of the presence in Morshansk district, where he was in charge of peasant affairs.
When the provision on zemstvo institutions was introduced in the Tambov province, Nikolai Nikolaevich was elected at the same time as a county and provincial vowel. Since 1891, he is the Tambov provincial leader of the nobility. In 1896 he was promoted to acting state councilor. And from 1906 to 1909, N. N. Cholokaev was a member of the State Council from the Tambov Zemstvo.
Bishop John
In the world, his name was Ivan Anatolyevich Kurakin. He was the penultimate leader of the nobility in the Yaroslavl province - from 1906 to 1915. The years of life 1874-1950. He managed to visit both an official and a politician, the leader of the nobility, a member of the State Duma of the 3rd convocation, a full state adviser, and the Minister of Finance in the Provisional Government of the Northern Region, and served in the army. In the last month of his life he was Vicar of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, had the title of Bishop of Messina.
I. A. Kurakin left the princes Kurakin, was the great-great-grandson of Alexei Kurakin, the prosecutor general, and the son of Anatoly Kurakin, a member of the State Council. While still an officer, in 1901 he was elected leader of the nobility in the Mologsky district. In this position he was until 1905. And in 1906, Kurakin took the post of Yaroslavl provincial leader of the nobility. From 1907 to 1913 he was a member of the State Duma, where he was a member of the Octobrist faction, was a member of the Central Committee of the Union of October 17 Party.
These interesting and versatile personalities were the leaders of the Russian nobility.