Ivan Nikolayevich Durnovo (russian: Иван Николаевич Дурново, the

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

is also transcribed as Nikolaevich; – ) was a Russian

political figure A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He served as Chairman of the Committee of Ministers between 1895 and 1903, the precursor to the post of

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Biography

Ivan Nikolaevich Durnovo was born on 1 (13) March 1834 in

Chernigov Governorate The Chernigov Governorate (russian: Черниговская губерния; translit.: ''Chernigovskaya guberniya''; ), also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian ...

(which was located mostly within northeastern

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

and Russia's

Bryansk Oblast Bryansk Oblast (russian: Бря́нская о́бласть, ''Bryanskaya oblast''), also known as Bryanshchina (russian: Брянщина, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Bryansk. As of th ...

) to the noble Durnovo family. He attended Prince Michael Artillery Academy (russian: Михайловская артиллерийская академия) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. After a brief time in the military, he returned to civilian life and was elected by the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

of his

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

(district) to the position of the Marshal of Nobility. Later he occupied a similar position for the entire

. He served as the Governor of

(1863–1870) and

Yekaterinoslav Governorate The Yekaterinoslav Governorate (russian: Екатеринославская губерния, Yekaterinoslavskaya guberniya; uk, Катеринославська губернія, translit=Katerynoslavska huberniia) or Government of Yekaterinos ...

(1870–1882). From 1882 he was in

, starting as a Deputy

Minister of Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

(1882–1886). Although not a capable statesman, he was a good communicator, capable to earn trust of his superiors. Count Sergei Witte described him as "a pleasant Marshal of Nobility, a pleasant governor, a pleasant Deputy Minister of the Interior. But he was not a cultured or intelligent person; rather, one rather limited in his abilities. A hospitable, polite, and very cunning man." On the

Empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

's recommendation, in 1886 Durnovo was appointed the chair of the Fourth Section of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery, the office responsible for charitable institution and health care. In 1889, after the death of the

Dmitry Tolstoy, Durnovo was appointed to replace him. In social policy, Durnovo's tenure in office saw a reduction of working hours in 1897. Durnovo was not known, however, for his innovations, but rather for following his predecessor's policies. His abilities were summarized by his staff in a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

, "Не нашли хорошего, назначили Дурново" (They could not find a good minister, so they have appointed a bad 'durnogo'' = ''Durnovo''one!"). Durnovo was blamed by later researchers for failing to take decisive actions to handle the Russian famine of 1891–92.Adele Lindenmeyr, "Poverty Is Not a Vice: Charity, Society, and the State in Imperial Russia".
On Google Books
In 1895, the next emperor,

Nicholas II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pol ...

promoted Durnovo to the job of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers. At the time, this was the top of the Russian bureaucratic ladder, as the separate position of the

Prime Minister of Russia The chairman of the government of the Russian Federation, also informally known as the prime minister, is the nominal head of government of Russia. Although the post dates back to 1905, its current form was established on 12 December 1993 fo ...

was not introduced until 1905. Durnovo was not to see that reform, though: he died on the job, on 29 May (11 June, in Gregorian Calendar) 1903, near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. His leadership qualities, not entirely admired by his colleagues, earned him the nickname of "Телячья голова" (Head of

Veal Veal is the meat of calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, however most veal comes from young male calves of dairy breeds which are not used for breeding. Generally, v ...

References

Дурново Иван Николаевич
based in turn on A.P. Shikman (Шикман А.П.), "Personalities of Our Nation's History. Biographical Handbook." (Деятели отечественной истории. Биографический справочник). Moscow, 1997, .
Дурново Иван Николаевич
(from

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Durnovo, Ivan Nikolayevich 1834 births 1903 deaths People from Chernigov Governorate Marshals of nobility Politicians of the Russian Empire Interior ministers of Russia Members of the State Council (Russian Empire) Ivan Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery Russian nobility