Yevgeny Sergeyevich Botkin (; 27 March 1865 – 17 July 1918), commonly known as Eugene Botkin, was the court physician since 1908 for Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. He sometimes treated the Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia for haemophilia-related complications, like in Spala in 1912. Following the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, Botkin went into exile with the Romanov family, accompanying them to Tobolsk and

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

in Siberia. He was murdered with the Imperial family by guards on 17 July 1918. Like the Romanov family, Botkin was canonised in 1981 as a New Martyr by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. In 2000, the

Russian Orthodox Church The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

canonised the Romanov family as passion bearers. On 3 February 2016, the Bishop's Council of the Russian Orthodox Church canonised Botkin as '' Righteous Passion-Bearer Yevgeny the Physician''.

Early life and career

Botkin was born in the

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in the Russian Empire, the fourth son of Anastasia Alexandrovna (Krylova) and Sergey Botkin, who had been a court physician ("Leib Medik") since 1870 under Tsars Alexander II and Alexander III. His father is considered one of the founders of modern Russian medical science and education who introduced triage, pathological anatomy, and post mortem diagnostics into Russian medical practice. Initially home educated he entered the 5th grade of The Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium. Botkin followed his father in studying medicine, getting his degree at the S. M. Kirov Military Medical Academy on the properties of blood and doing additional studies at the universities of Berlin and Heidelberg (1890-1892, 1895).King; Wilson (2003), p. 61 He served with distinction aboard the St. Georgievsky Red Cross hospital train and wrote notes on the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

. In 1907 he was appointed as chief physician at Saint George City Hospital in St. Petersburg. Botkin married Olga Vladimirovna Manuilova in 1891 and had four children, Dimitri, Yuri, Gleb and Tatiana. His marriage broke up under the strain caused by Botkin's dedication to the Romanovs and his long hours at court. His wife, Olga, started an affair with Friedrich (Fritz) Lichinger, a pharmacist and was granted a divorce. His oldest son, Dimitri was killed in action during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Botkin became increasingly religious and "developed an increasing abhorrence for the flesh," according to his son Gleb. His daughter Tatiana wrote his memoirs. Years later, his brother Peter spoke of him:Botkine, Peter. ''LesMorts sans Tombes''. Paris: Louis Conard, 1921

"From a very tender age, his beautiful and noble nature was complete," his brother Peter recalled later. "He was never like other children. Always sensitive, of a delicate, inner sweetness of extraordinary soul, he had a horror of any kind of struggle or fight. We other boys would fight with fury. He would not take part in our combats, but when our pugilism took on a dangerous character he would stop the combatants at risk of injuring himself. He was very studious and conscientious in his studies. For a profession he chose medicine: to help, to succour, to soothe, to heal without end."^apud

Exile and death

Botkin felt it was his duty to accompany the Romanovs into exile, not only because of his responsibility to his patients, the Romanov family, but also to his country. Botkin was considered a friend by Tsar Nicholas II. The doctor also often spoke with Tsarina Alexandra in her native German and acted as a translator for her when she received a Russian delegation. After Botkin and the family were executed, White Army investigators found this unfinished letter by him. It was written in his quarters on the night of 16 July 1918: The letter was interrupted when Yakov Yurovsky, the head of the command at the Ipatiev House knocked on Botkin's door. He ordered the entire Romanov party to dress and come downstairs, on the premise that there was gunfire in the town, and they were to be evacuated. But the entire family and their servants (including Botkin who volunteered) were

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

a short time later. In the early 1990s, after the unmarked gravesite had been discovered and Botkin's remains were examined, he was found to have had bullet wounds on his legs, pelvis,

vertebrae Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spinal ...

, and forehead.

Honours and awards

* Order of St. Vladimir, 3rd and 2nd classes with swords, * Order of St. Anna, 2nd class * Order of St. Stanislaus, 3rd class * Order of St. Sava, 2nd class *Bulgarian "For Citizenship Award" *1981, canonised by Russian Church Outside of Russia as New Martyr. *2016, canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church as passion bearer.

Representation in other media

Botkin features as a character in David Logan's (an Australian playwright) ''Ekaterinburg''. It explores the time in captivity of the Romanovs and their retainers in the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg.Logan, D. (2013) Ekaterinburg Botkin was featured in the 1971 film '' Nicholas and Alexandra'', portrayed by Timothy West; as well as the 1996 television movie '' Rasputin: Dark Servant of Destiny'' where he was portrayed by David Warner.

References

* * *Wegner, Armin T. (1930). ''Fünf Finger über dir.'' Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart. Berlin und Leipzig.

Notes