Tver governors at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries: style of work and way of life

During the considered period (1880-1917) the governor was a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the territory of Tver Province and was the only plenipotentiary of the central power. Powers of governors were regulated by existing legislation, their actions were guided by the circulars and instructions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Actually, governors had an opportunity to put legal acts into force at discretion, depending on personal qualities and value judgment of the occurring events. Results of the analysis of the main personal and professional qualities of the governors heading the province during the considered period are reflected in the article. It is revealed that the relations with local society which influenced the performance official duties after Great reforms depended on personal qualities of the highest officials. Often, insufficient training for execution of duties and personal unbalance led to long conflicts which resulted in social fallouts. Granting of large powers to the highest officials in relation to territorial establishments and public organizations became a result of the policy of Alexander III concerning local governments. Governors used the acquired opportunities in different ways. The activities of Tver governors P.D. Akhlestyshev, N.D. Golitsyn and A.A. Shirinskiy-Shikhmatov is indicative in this regard. They confronted the nobility and the zemstvo which resulted in their resignations or transfer to a different department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In other cases, the policy of compromise by, for example, A.N. Somov, S.D. Urusov and N.G. Byunting gave the most positive results. During their administration, due to the productive work of the zemstvo the wellbeing of the population improved, which was a merit of the governors. The position of the governor was a representation of the Supreme power in the consciousness of the majority of the population. It is probably the reason why the last governors serving before the revolution of February 1917 in Tver perished: Pavel Aleksandrovich Sleptsov was killed in an attempted assasination in 1906 and Nikolay Georgiyevich Byunting was killed by the rebel soldiers in 1917. They were killed almost in the same place which is still unmarked by a memorable stele or a cross. At the meeting of Tver Province Temporary Executive Committee on March 6, 1917, by point 5 it was decided “to report to the Executive State Duma Committee that Tver Executive Committee takes the administration duties in the province and does not need the position of the governor, modified or not”. With adoption of this decision the governorship institute in Tver Province ceased to exist for more than 80 years.

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