Obolensky, Andrei Vasilievich

Born in Moscow in the family of Major General Prince Vasily Petrovich Obolensky and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna (1786-1870), daughter of the famous bibliophile Count A. I. Musin-Pushkin . Prince A. Obolensky spent his childhood years in his hometown and in the family estate of Alder of the Yukhnovsky district of Smolensk province , where he received his initial education. Then he studied at the Imperial College of Law . Having early realized all the abnormality of serfdom , he immediately after graduating from college went on foot hikes across Russia to learn in reality the real situation of the people: he visited Rostov , Orel , Tula , passed the Smolensk province, and through Kaluga , with a knapsack behind him, reached Moscow .

With the rank of college secretary was determined June 15, 1846 in the 2nd branch of the 6th department of the Governing Senate ^[1] . In the Senate, he served as junior assistant secretary, then was assigned to the department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire , and on June 30, 1847 he was appointed to Ryazan acting as provincial criminal case lawyer . He did not stay in Ryazan for long and, soon after being appointed to the post of associate chairman of the Ryazan chamber of a civil court, was transferred to the same post in the Yaroslavl Criminal Chamber ^[1] .

In the early 1850s, he participated in meetings of the commission on runaways, vagabonds, and mariners. According to I.S. Aksakov, everything that was young, honest, intelligent, educated and gifted in Yaroslavl gathered in this commission. In addition to correcting his direct position as a fellow chairman of the criminal chamber, the prince was first secretary and then director of the Prison Committee. For excellent service, Prince Obolensky was awarded the title of titular adviser, and then a college assessor ^[1] .

In early December 1853, Prince Obolensky was appointed correcting the position of comrade of the chairman of the Kaluga Civil Chamber. His activities in Kaluga were very diverse. So, he often replaced the chairman of the civil chamber, was the director of the provincial prison committee, was, upon receiving the rank of court adviser (in 1855), correcting the post of the Kaluga provincial prosecutor, and finally, on March 1, 1858, was appointed chairman of the Kaluga chamber of the civil court ^{[1 ]} .

His activity was especially beneficial in the late fifties of the 19th century , when it fell to the prince to take part in the affairs of the Kaluga Committee to improve the life of the landlord peasants . Being present in this committee, the prince showed a lot of energy against the aspirations of many landowners to maintain power over the peasants. His name, as a member of the Kaluga committee, is also found under the redemption project of this province. For his useful work on the committee, Obolensky was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 2nd degree in 1859 and promoted to college adviser ^[1] .

From February 4 to May 19, 1860, Prince Obolensky was in St. Petersburg as a deputy to the editorial commissions, and in this role showed himself to be a supporter of the greatest possible freedom for the peasants. So, in his recall on the reports of the administrative department of the editorial commissions, Prince A.V. Obolensky, rebelling against giving the land to the peasants on the right to use, even if for an unlimited time, advocated giving the land back to them in ownership. He believed that the preservation of property rights by the landlords in relation to the peasants using their land, not at all eliminating the excessive interference of the landlords in the affairs of the peasants, gives this intervention a class and hostile character. On the contrary, the transfer of ownership of land to peasants should, in his opinion, have the effect that both landowners and peasants would be part of the same volost societies of landowners, in which each of them would receive a value corresponding to its state , their education and their moral qualities. Further, the prince said that the nobility out of a sense of self-preservation, and even more out of a sense of civic duty, is obliged to voluntarily abandon their estates and privileges, in the name of reasonable grounds of citizenship, in favor of the beginning of the equality of all before the law ^[1] .

He was appointed on January 14, 1861 a member of the interim commission for the implementation of the peasant liberation reform of Emperor Alexander II , and upon renaming the commission as Provincial Peasant Affairs, he was a member. For useful work on the device of peasant life, Prince Obolensky received a silver medal "For work on the device of specific peasants" on the Alexander ribbon and was promoted to state councilors ^[1] .

In 1862, he left the election service and was assigned to the department of the Ministry of Justice. Appointed on November 1, 1863, the chairman of the Grodno Treasury, Prince Obolensky fell into the northwestern region at the height of the turmoil. Nevertheless, here, in such a difficult era, he was able to agree on the strict fulfillment of the duty of a Russian official with humanity and a gentle attitude to the sometimes hostile environment surrounding him. It was extremely accessible to everyone, soon gained sincere respect for itself and left a good memory of its activities in the inhabitants of Grodno . For outstanding useful work as chairman of the Grodno Treasury Chamber, Prince Obolensky, among other signs of the Monarchy of Mercy, received the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree, then he was promoted to state councilor and awarded the Order of St. Stanislav of 1 degree ^[1] .

In 1873, almost losing his sight from a series of unsuccessful eye operations, the prince went to serve in St. Petersburg, where he took up the post of V-class official for special assignments under the Minister of Finance ^[1] . From an early age he was a friend of Ivan Sergeevich Aksakov and completely shared his pan-Slavic beliefs. Therefore, the Slavic movement of the 1870s completely captured him and he, already blind, until the last minute of his life did not cease to be ardently interested in Balkan affairs that spilled over into the Turkish war .

On the night of December 10-11, 1875, Prince Andrei Vasilyevich Obolensky died 52 years old from a complicated angina pectoris and was buried in the village of Olkhi, Yukhnovsky Uyezd, Smolensk Province, with which memories of his childhood and youth were connected ^[1] .

Prince Obolensky was married to Alexandra Alekseevna Dyakova (1831-1890), the founder of the capital's female gymnasium ; in their marriage (November 19, 1869) a son Vladimir was born, who became a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Empire of the first convocation from the Tauride province .

From the memoirs and reviews of Prince A. Obolensky, one can draw a number of examples of his kindness, humanity, sensitivity and ability to recognize and appreciate people ^[1] . So, for example, I.S. Aksakov in his correspondence speaks of the prince with enthusiasm: he calls him his only joy, a man who makes an impression equal to that of nature, and relates to him his poetic remark that he is good “with loving reason and hearts with wise simplicity ” ^[2] .

• Petrov A.A. Obolensky, Andrei Vasilievich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.