Jacob von Sievers

Jacob Johann Graf[1] von Sievers (30 August 1731 in Wesenberg (now Rakvere), Estonia – 23 July 1808 in Bauenhof, Governorate of Livonia (near what is now Valmiera, Latvia)) was a Baltic German statesman of the Russian Empire from the Sievers family.

Jacob von Sievers
Portrait by Josef Grassi

Biography

After serving the Russian army during the Seven Years' War as quartermaster general, he was appointed governor of Novgorod in 1764 by Catharine II. He introduced the cultivation of potatoes to Russia, regulated the postal services, and was instrumental in the abolition of torture in 1767.

Based on Sievers' initiative, the provincial government reform was instituted; he was himself appointed general governor of Novgorod, Tver and Pskov. He was Russian ambassador to Poland and led the second and third partition of the kingdom. Czar Paul appointed him senator in 1796; in 1797 he became head of the new department for water communications. He was knighted in 1798.

In Sievers' honor, Alexander I named the channel that connects the outlet of the Msta River with the Volkhov river the Sievers Canal.

Notes
  1. Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names.

References
  • Blum, Karl Ludwig: Ein russischer Staatsmann, Denkwürdigkeiten des Grafen von Sievers, Leipzig 1857-58, 4 vols.
  • Blum, Karl Ludwig: Graf Jacob Johann von Sievers und Russland zu dessen Zeit. Leipzig; Heidelberg: Winter, 1864
  • Jones, Robert E: Provincial Development in Russia. Catherine II and Jacob Sievers. Rutgers University Press, 1984
  • "Sievers, Jakob Johann" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
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