Paul Ignatieff

Paul Ignatieff
24th Education Minister of the Russian Empire
In office January 9, 1915 – December 27, 1916
Preceded by	Lev Kasso
Succeeded by	Nikolai Kulchitsky
Personal details
Born	Pavel Nikolayevich Ignatiev Павел Николаевич Игнатьев July 12 [O.S. June 30] 1870 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire
Died	August 12, 1945(1945-08-12) (aged 75) Upper Melbourne, Quebec, Canada
Nationality	Russian
Spouse(s)	Natalia Nikolayevna Meshcherskaya

Count Pavel Nikolayevich Ignatiev (Russian: Павел Николаевич Игнатьев, sometimes rendered in English as Paul Ignatieff; June 30/July 12, 1870 Istanbul– August 12, 1945) was an Imperial Russian politician who served as Education Minister for Tsar Nicholas II. He was the son of Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, Minister of the Interior for Tsar Alexander III. After the October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks into power, Pavel Ignatieff fled Russia with his family, ultimately ending up in Canada.

Life and work

Ignatieff's father, Count Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev, was Russian Minister of the Interior under Tsar Alexander III. Paul Ignatieff married Princess Natalya Meshcherskaya (1877-1944) in Nice, France on April 16, 1903. They would have seven children, all boys, two of whom died as infants.

He was a graduate of the University of Kiev. Afterward he entered the Imperial Ministry of Agriculture eventually becoming a Director of one of its departments in 1909. He was appointed Assistant Minister of Agriculture in 1912. In 1915, during the First World War he was appointed Minister of Education. He held that position until December 1916.

During October Revolution, Ignatieff was captured and was to be executed. However, he was spared because the Polish commissar overseeing his execution said that he was a good man because he had implemented progressive policies such Polish language rights while Education Minister. Ignatieff and his family then fled to England in 1919 and lived on a farm in Sussex, before moving to Canada.^[1]

In 1925, the family emigrated to Canada, and settled permanently three years later in Upper Melbourne in Quebec, where he died August 12, 1945.

One of the Ignatieff's sons, George, was a prominent Canadian diplomat. One of his grandsons, Michael Ignatieff, is an author, Harvard professor, former Canadian Member of Parliament and former leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.

References

• Ignatieff, Michael. The Russian album. New York, N.Y.: Viking, 1987.
• "Countess Ignatieff". New York Times, 30 Aug 1944: 17.
• Index with link to Ignatieff genealogical information
• "Nicholas Ignatieff". New York Times, 30 Mar 1952: 93.
• Out of My Past: The Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov Edited by H.H. Fisher and translated by Laura Matveev; Stanford University Press, 1935.
• The Memoirs of Count Witte Edited and translated by Sydney Harcave; Sharpe Press, 1990.