James Steuart Shanks, (1826–1911), second son of the coachmaker Robert Shanks was a British merchant living in Moscow. James studied at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

and he came of age in 1845 at which point he inherited from his uncle Robert How. In 1852 James established the Moscow shop 'Shanks & Bolin, Magasin Anglais' with Henrik Conrad Bolin, younger brother of Carl Edvard Bolin, the

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

jeweller of House of Bolin. Two of James' children made significant contributions to art and literature.

Family background

James was the second son of Robert Shanks, coachmaker of Gt. Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Robert Shanks was born in Calcutta and apprenticed as a coachmaker with the Steuart coachbuilders where his brothers were partners. Robert moved to London to partner Robert How in the London coachmaking business and marry Ann How, Robert How's sister. James Shanks was the second son of Robert Shanks, the first son, Robert How Shanks, inherited his father's business after his father's retirement and the death of Robert How with no issue. James went to University in Leiden, and apprenticed to the cloth merchant Bradbury Greatorex & Co where he gained a knowledge of textiles. When he came of age he inherited from his uncle Robert How, James chose to make his own way in life. It is not known how he met Henrik Conrad Bolin (1818–1888), however, the Bolins are known to have had considerable success at the Great Exhibition of 1851, Shanks & Bolin was established in the following year.

Shanks & Bolin, Magasin Anglais

Magasin Anglais (the English Shop) was founded in 1852 and between 1880 and 1916 was located at 3 Kuznetski Most. This building still stands and is known as the 'Tretyakov House' which is now numbered 9/10 Kuznetski Most. Before 1880 the Magasin Anglais was located in the area where the

Lubyanka Building Lubyanka (, ) is the popular name for the building which contains the headquarters of the FSB on Lubyanka Square in the Meshchansky District of Moscow, Russia. It is a large Neo-Baroque building with a facade of yellow brick designed by Alex ...

now stands. Magasin Anglais is often described as an outfitter, selling women's accessories such as handbags, fans, furs and gloves, fabric for clothing, carpets, silverware as well as jewellery, some made by the House of Bolin. Items of silver were commissioned from the silversmith workshops of Maria Ivanovna Linke and were sold in by silverware division of the shop. After the death of H K Bolin in 1888, the jewellery division of Shanks & Bolin was sold to Bolin, the shop was then renamed Shanks & Co, Magasin Anglais.

Children of James Steuart Shanks

In 1853 James Steuart Shanks married Mary Louisa Schilling (of German-Baltic descent), they had nine children. Two of James' children made significant contributions to art and literature.

Emily Shanks Emily Shanks, also known as Emiliya Yakovlevna Shanks (; 1 August 1857, in Moscow – 13 January 1936, in London), was a British painter living in Moscow. She was the first woman to be elected to the Russian Society for Travelling Art Exhibitio ...

was the first female member of the Russian painters known as

Peredvizhniki Peredvizhniki (, ), often called The Wanderers or The Itinerants in English, were a group of Russian realism (arts), realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restrictions; it evolved into the ''Society for Trave ...

. Louise Shanks married

Aylmer Maude Aylmer Maude (28 March 1858 – 25 August 1938) and Louise Maude (1855–1939) were English translators of Leo Tolstoy's works, and Aylmer Maude also wrote his friend Tolstoy's biography, ''The Life of Tolstoy''. After living many years in Russi ...

and translated

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

's novels into English, these translations are considered to be the best of their time. Mary Shanks was a member of Tolstoy's circle and adopted the Russian child Anya Troup.Horsbrugh-Porter (1993) James junior and Henry Shanks carried on the Magasin Anglais after the retirement of James Steuart Shanks.

George Shanks George Shanks (1896–1957) was an expatriate British people, Briton born in Moscow and was the first translator of ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Protocols of Zion'' from Russian into English. He was also a founding member of Radio Norma ...

, son of Henry Shanks, is believed to be the first to translate the fraudulent

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

text,

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

, from Russian into English and was a founder of Radio Normandie.

References

* Harvey Pitcher (1984), "The Smiths of Moscow: a story of Britons abroad", Swallow House Books * Harvey Pitcher (1994), "Muir and Mirrielees: The Scottish Partnership That Became a Household Name in Russia", Swallow House Books * Donnelly, Michael E. (2009), "The Immortal Itinerants (Peredvizhniki)", Russian Paintings Gallery. * Anna Horsbrugh-Porter (1993), "Memories of Revolution: Russian Women Remember", Routledge * Bradbury Greatorex and Co. (1970), "A short history of Bradbury Greatorex and Co. Ltd", The firm. * Ribbing, Magdelena (1996) "Smycken & silver för tsarer, drottningar och andra : W. A. Bolin 200 år : S:t Petersburg, Moskva, Stockholm"

External links

Shanks Family History

W A Bolin

Shanks Family Genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shanks, James Steuart 1824 births 1911 deaths 19th-century British merchants 19th-century British businesspeople British expatriates in the Russian Empire Leiden University alumni