Britische Migration nach Russland im 19. Jahrhundert Integration — Kultur — Alltagsleben. Veröffentlichungen des Osteuropa-Instituts Müuchen, 69 by Julia Mahnke-Devlin (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 765 issuesraisedbytheessays, itprovides onlya brief précisofeach chapter. The editors havesucceededinbringing together remarkably strong essaysthatare profitably read againstone another, and have admirably achievedtheiraim of providing an 'important researchtool forstudents and scholars'(p. 5). Rosslyn's'Select Bibliography (2001-2006)' is a usefuladdition to the volume. Department ofHistory Lisa A. Kirschenbaum WestChester University ofPennsylvania Mahnke-Devlin, Julia. Britische Migrationnach Russland im ig. Jahrhundert Integration - Kultur - Alltagsleben. Veröffentlichungen des OsteuropaInstituts München, 69.Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2005.297pp.Illustrations. Tables. Bibliography. Index.€68.00. Peter the Great's purposive openingofRussiatotheculture and personnel ofEuropean,especially Western and NorthEuropean,countries encouraged the rapid formation of foreign communities in the country, amongwhom theBritish weresoonprominent. Theirinfluential presencein theeighteenth century has been quitecomprehensively documented in recentscholarship, notablytheworkofAnthony Cross.The nineteenth century has been less well served,despitemanymemoirsand travelaccounts researches ofHarveyPitcher. JuliaMahnke-Devlin's Mur tation seekstoredress thebalancewitha description and 1 and the engaging rich doctoraldissermalysis ofthenineLCCiiui -^ciiLUi y jJiiLiaii picöcntc in ljul, iwkj xiiip^iicii i/opuciia cima iii^ naiuit kjl themigrational processes involved. She beginswitha survey ofAnglo-Russian relations and thedevelopment oftheRussianeconomy, focusing on theplace in thelatterofforeigners generally and Britonsin particular. There follow sections on demography and statistics, British residential preferences, and the forms and modalities ofmigration. The deliberately British expatriate lifestyle is vividly anatomized(tea, tennis,etc.),and thereare sectionson religion and - closelyassociatedwithitphilanthropy . The finalsectionlooksat distinctive individual members oftheBritish community - architects, artists, top doctors,entrepreneurs, governesses, musicians,and Ivan Vasil'evich Shervud-Vernyi, sonofa British artisan, whosedubiousclaimtofamewashis betrayal oftheDecembrists in 1825.The nineteenth century saw significant changein thepositionand make-upoftheBritish colony,as bothinternationalrelations and Russia'sinternal circumstances evolved.The previously overwhelmingly friendly relationsbetweenRussia and Britaindeteriorated as thenineteenth century progressed, and theeighteenth-century practiceof filling topRussianpostswithwell-qualified foreigners, stillto be observedin theearlynineteenth century, felloutoffashion from thereignofNicholasI onwards.At the same timethe mercantile opportunities whichhad made the fortunesof eighteenth-century Britishmerchantsdeclined steeply, whilegrowing industrialization, especiallyafterthe CrimeanWar, brought increasing numbers oflower-class Britons toworkin thenewfactories ofthe 766 SEER, 87, 4, OCTOBER 2OO9 Empire.The Britishcolonywas not sociallyhomogeneous, and the oldestablished clansfeltincreasingly ill at ease.JamesWhishaw,whosefamily had beenin St Petersburg since1770, decidedin 1904tosendhisfamily back to Englandbecause his'Englishcolony'was shrinking and forhis eligible daughters 'therewerefewgirlfriends or youngmenleftwhomwe feltthey shouldmeet'(quotedp. 269).The English colonyas a wholeat thattimewas in factexpanding, butthrough arrivals ofthe'wrong'socialclass.Whishaw' s decisionsavedhisfamily fromtheconsequencesofthe 1917revolution and CivilWar,a disaster fortheBritish community whichceasedtoexistas such. This is a verycompetent piece ofwork,wellsourced,welldefined and well focused, whichsucceedsin 300 pages in encompassing and givinga vivid flavourof the 100-year lifeof a disparatecommunity. The anthropology of migration, withtwo case studiesof the Cattleyand Colley families, is concisely drawn- itwasprincipally 'pull'factors whichbrought nineteenthcentury Britons tothislate-industrializing Europeancountry, whichcombined pioneerfeatures witheconomicdemandfrom a well-heeled and increasingly culturedelite.The exclusivefocuson the two capitalsis understandable, butleavesunanswered questions aboutBritish penetration and workin other areasofthecountry; and eveninthecapitalsnoteverything iscovered- this reviewer was disappointed in his hopes of finding the PanopticonCollege ofArtsbuiltby Samuel Benthamat Okhta in 1807-09.But we have such individuals as theIrishcreatorof thenocturne JohnField and Churchill's interpreter Arthur Birse,suchbodiesas theSt Petersburg Benevolent Society ofBritish Ladies (1841),theQuaker agrarianexpertDaniel Wheeler(1818-) and hiscommunity (though nottheir burialground, stillextant at Shushary), theBritish golfcluband courseat thedacha-colony ofMurino,and ofcourse thegentlemen's clubs- no longerthe'EnglishClubs' ofthetwocapitals, by now overrun by Russianmembers and noteventakingBritish newspapers, butthelaterCommercial, New Englishand British ClubswheretheexpatriateBritish enjoyedtheir owncompany. Whilenotthelastwordon theBritish in nineteenth-century Russia,thissystematic and wide-ranging studyfillsa significant gap. Ludlow Roger Bartlett Lincoln,W. Bruce.TheConquest ofa Continent: Siberia andthe Russians. Cornell University Press,Ithaca,NY and London,2007.xxii+ 500 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes.Bibliography. Index.$25.00:£12.50(paperback). The lateW. BruceLincolnwas a mostprolific historian ofRussia,authoring twelve bookswithin thefield.These maybe dividedbetweenthosethatare morenarrowly focusedand scholarly, suchas Nikolai Miliutin: AnEnlightened Russian Bureaucrat (Newtonville, MA, 1977),and thosethatare broaderand gearedtowarda moregeneralreadership, likeBetween Heaven andHell: The Story ofa Thousand Tears ofArtistic LifeinRussia(NewYork,1998).TheConquest ...