Suvorov, Vasily Ivanovich (major general)

From the noble family of the Suvorovs ^[2] . In literature, it is sometimes taken for its full namesake - the father of the commander A.V. Suvorov ^{[3] [4] [5] [6] and others} . They were confused during their lifetime ^[7] . The Trans-Baikal residents - the local historian V. F. Balabanov and the historian V. G. Izgachev (candidate of historical sciences), based on published correspondence ^[8] and other sources, showed that the father of the commander of the Nerchinsk factories was the father of the commander's brother ^{[9] [ 7]} . Mother Marfa Nikiforovna is the daughter of the Moscow guest Syreishchikova ^{[10] [11]} .

The personality of his father, Ivan Ivanovich Suvorov, is scarce and even more controversial. V. N. Balyazin in his fictionalized essay ^[12] identifies him with I. I. Suvorov, “a student’s wallpaper case” involved in the disclosure of information that led to the execution of Willim Mons ^[13] . This assertion, however, echoes documented evidence that the father of V. I. Suvorov in 1726 "for the words relating to the honor of Empress Catherine I was exiled to the soldiers" and died in 1728 ^[10] . The shameful punishment is also explained by the fact that in the genealogies of the Suvorovs published in the 19th century , the person is either not mentioned at all ^[14] , or a biographical note about her is completely omitted ^[2] . Until 1726, I. I. Suvorov served as a translator (1717), and the Berg and Manufacture Collegiums as a registrar ^[10] . According to other sources, in 1741 he was listed as a lieutenant and rose to the rank of captain of the Kazan Dragoon Regiment ^[11] .

There is evidence that Vasily Ivanovich Suvorov in 1747 was an adjutant of the Astrakhan infantry regiment ; in 1756 - captain and life campaign vice-corporal ^[11] .

He discovered the first silver ore deposit in Russia - on the Argun River in Nerchinskoye Dauria , the boyar son P. Shulgin in 1676. At this place, Voivode I.E. Vlasov built the Argun (Nerchinsky) silver-smelting plant. The construction of the first plant began after experimental swimming trunks. The first heat took place in Nerchinsk in 1686. In 1690-1693, the plant operated, but regular smelting began in 1704 ^{[15] [16]} . In the 1720s, a silver deposit was also discovered in Altai , where it began to be smelted at the Kolyvano-Voskresensky factories in 1745, when, after the death of Akinfiy Demidov, the plants were transferred to the treasury under the Cabinet’s authority ^[17] .

In the first half of the 18th century, the rate of silver smelting at the Nerchinsk factory was very modest; in the 30s, its activity even stopped. By the 60s of the 18th century, the Nerchinsky silver smelter was in a deplorable state. Among the reasons for this was called the small power of his administration ^[18] .

In May 1761, Elizaveta Petrovna ordered the captain V. I. Suvorov’s Life Guards to be appointed head of the Nerchinsk factories “for the best and most respectable of those plants, in order to increase the breeding of the ghost” and granted him the rank of foreman . A Senate decree in fulfillment of this command of the empress was issued in September of the same year ^{[7] [19]} . Suvorov arrived at the Nerchinsk Plant by 1763 ^[7] . March 3, 1763 he was granted the rank of Major General ^[20] . In March 1764, a highly approved instruction ^[21] was sent to him, which summarized all previous experience in state mining and smelting of silver ^[18] . The instruction provided V. I. Suvorov with the right: to assign officer ranks to the captain; reward and punish officials ; staff the factory management staff; organize schools; the right to determine wages ; invite the necessary masters; organize ore exploration with the encouragement of discoverers. According to the instructions, Suvorov was allowed to bring the total number of peasants, raznochintsy and posadniks assigned to the factories to 5,000 people. Ascribed to the factories at the disposal of recruitment kits were exempted from military service.

The post of head of the Nerchinsk factories V. I. Suvorov held from 1763 to 1775 ^[1] , during which he carried out their reform ^[22] . Under Suvorov, the Ducharsky (1763) was launched, the Kutomarsky (1764) and Shilkinsky (1769) plants were built ^[1] , the existing stoves were rebuilt and new ones were built at the old Nerchinsky factory ^[22] , Vozdvizhensky (1764), Shilkinsky (1765), Ildikansky were developed (1773) and Tayninsky (1773) mines ^[1] . When it was discovered 21 new silver deposits ^[23] . The expansion of production was carried out according to a new scheme ^[22] . He introduced piecework wages for workers, using which he attracted hunters ^[24] from peasants assigned to factories ^[1] to mining operations. As a result of Suvorov’s reforms, silver smelting has reached unprecedented volumes - 619 pounds per year ^{[23] [22]} . Over the 11 years of its management (1763-1774), 4,978.5 pounds of silver were smelted at the plants, while over the previous 59 years of silver mining in Transbaikalia from 1704 to 1763, smelting amounted to 2006.9 pounds of precious metal ^[23] . V. I. Suvorov in the report emphasized that although the Nerchinsky factories are five times less people than the Kolyvano-Voskresensky, the Nerchinsky gave only half as much silver ^[22] .

As a man of advanced technical thought, in 1764 he appealed to the metropolitan administration with a request for the use of the steam engine of I. I. Polzunov at the Nerchinsk factories. However, due to bureaucratic delays, his application did not receive positive permission ^[5] .

The instruction of 1764 granted V.I. Suvorov the right to organize schools for teaching craftsmen and servants to read, arithmetic , geometry , trigonometry , mechanics , assay art and surveying , and the children of officers and employees, if possible, the German language , mining and hydraulics ^[21] . He paid special attention to this area of ​​his activity.

Developed by V.I. Suvorov in 1763, the full-time position of the Daursky silver smelters and the Nerchinsk factory school under them, approved by the Empress Catherine II in 1765, actually carried out a reform of education in the Nerchinsk mountain district . V.I. Suvorov created the Main Mining School on the basis of a college earlier than similar educational institutions appeared in Barnaul and St. Petersburg . It was the second secondary school after Yekaterinburg school. Skillfully combining the provisions on the garrison school and the "orphan" department, he managed to increase the number of school students to 250 people ^[25] . Created a system of schools in the mines and factories of the mountain district, significantly increasing, thereby, the number of trained boys ^[26] .

Shortly before his departure in 1773, Suvorov conducted another reorganization of the educational system he created - all students — 575 people were transferred to official dependency, the orphan department was closed ^[25] .

The school system created by V. I. Suvorov lasted until 1789, when, for reasons of economy, all schools were closed except for the Nerchinsk (main) school, the staff and number of teachers of which were significantly reduced. The Suvorov system was partially restored in 1803 ^[25] .

In July 1766 V.I. Suvorov was granted the Order of St. Anne . ^[27] .

With all the costs and disadvantages, giving the commander of the Nerchinsk factories almost unlimited power brought positive results. Suvorov did not abuse this power and left a good memory of himself at the Nerchinsk factories both as a person and as a specialist ^[22] .

In 1781, one of the newly discovered silver-lead mines in honor of V.I. Suvorov was given the name Vasilyevsky (aka Suvorovsky). The mine was operated until 1800. V. F. Balabanov also cites a “song” about V. I. Suvorov, composed at the end of the 18th century ^[28] .