Yevgeny Ivanovich Lamansky

YEVGENY IVANOVICH LAMANSKY was a Russian financier, economist and statesman of the Great Reforms era and one of the principal organizers of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. He was born on 1 (13) December 1825; modern reference sources disagree on whether his birthplace was Saint Petersburg or Tsarskoye Selo, so that point remains to be verified. After completing five classes at the Second Saint Petersburg Gymnasium, he entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum in 1840 and graduated in 1846, by then renamed the Imperial Alexander Lyceum, with a silver medal. He served in the State Chancellery, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State Property; in 1857–1858 he studied banking practice in Paris and London, including at the Bank of France and the Bank of England. In 1859–1860 he helped draft the charter of the future State Bank, approved by Alexander II. From 1860 he served as Deputy Governor of the State Bank, became Acting Governor in 1866, and was Governor from 1867 to 1881. During his tenure the branch network, bill-discounting and lending operations expanded, while European-style bank accounting and cheque circulation were introduced. Lamansky participated in preparations for the Peasant Reform, became a corresponding member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1859, and was active in the Russian Geographical Society, chairing its Statistical Division from 1861. He authored works on the history of monetary circulation and banking. He received several high orders of the Russian Empire, including the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, as well as Serbia's Order of Takovo, 1st Class. He died in Saint Petersburg on 31 January (13 February) 1902 and was buried at the Nikolskoye Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.