Governor-General of Finland

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Governor-General of Finland
Coat of arms of Finland
Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov, the last Governor-General of Finland
Appointer	King of Sweden, later Emperor of Russia
Formation	1595
First holder	Klaus Fleming
Final holder	Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov
Abolished	1917

Governor-General of Finland (Finnish: Suomen kenraalikuvernööri; Swedish: generalguvernör över Finland; Russian: генерал-губернатор Финляндии) was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland sporadically under Swedish rule in the 17th and 18th centuries and continuously in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland between 1809 and 1917.

Swedish realm[]

After the final abolition of the Duchy of Finland and related feudal privileges in the late 16th century, the King of Sweden sporadically granted most or all of Finland under a specially appointed governor-general, who took care of the matters in the eastern part of the country more or less according to his own best judgement. Best known of these officials is count Per Brahe whose reign is still referred to in Finland as the "count's days" (kreivin aikaan), meaning something positive that happens just in time.

List of Swedish Governors-General of Finland[]

Translation in Swedish: Generalguvernör av Finland

Grand Duchy of Finland[]

During the time when Finland was a part of the Russian Empire, the Governor-General's position was permanent. He was Viceroy of the Emperor, who was not personally present in Helsinki, but resided in St Petersburg, just outside Finnish borders. The Governor-General was constitutionally the chairman of the Senate of Finland, the government in the autonomous Grand Duchy. The chairmanship he represented, with two votes in the Senate, belonged to the Grand Duke of Finland, a title held by the Emperor of Russia. The Governor-General was the highest representative of the Emperor and received his instructions directly from the Imperial Government in Saint Petersburg.

Finnish citizenship was not required of the Governor-General, contrary to all other highest positions such as senators and the Minister-Secretary of State. Most Governors-General were Russians, men whom the Emperor trusted as counterparts of potential Finnish separatism. Many of them, up to Baron Rokassovski, however were also made Finnish subjects, by granting them a Finnish nobility rank.

Many of the Governors-General were disliked by the Finnish population. The first man on the post, Georg Magnus Sprengtporten, resigned after only a year. Another, Nikolai Bobrikov, was assassinated in 1904 by the Finnish nationalist Eugen Schauman. On the other hand, several Governors-General worked in a way that guaranteed the Finnish autonomy in face of the interests of ministers of the Imperial Court.

The Governor-General between 1831 and 1855, Prince Menshikov, sojourned his entire term in St Petersburg, being simultaneously the Russian Minister of Navy. Gubernatorial duties in Helsinki were cared for by the deputy Governor-General. For most of the term, in that position was general Alexander Amatus Thesleff.

List of Russian Governors-General of Finland[]

Translation in Russian: Генерал-губернатор Финляндии

Governor-General		In Office
	Baron Göran Magnus Sprengtporten	1808–1809
	Prince Michael Barclay de Tolly	1809–1810
	Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt	1812-1813 (acting)
	Count Fabian Steinheil	1810–1823
	Count Arseny Zakrevsky	1824–1831
	Prince Alexander Menshikov	1831–1855
	Alexander Amatus Thesleff	1833–1847 (acting)
	Count Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg	1855–1861
	Baron	1861–1866
	Count Nikolay Adlerberg	1866–1881
	Count Feodor Logginovich Heiden	1881–1897
		1897 -1898 (acting)
	Nikolai Bobrikov	1898–1904
	Prince Ivan Obolensky	1904–1905
	Nikolai Gerard	1905–1908
		1908–1909
	Franz Albert Seyn	1909–1917
		1917 (acting)
	Mikhail Aleksandrovich Stakhovich	1917
	minister Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov	1917

See also[]

• Grand Duke of Finland
• Duke of Finland
• Diet of Finland
• Governor-General in the Swedish Realm
• Monarchy of Finland
• Finnish Minister Secretary of State
• List of Finnish rulers

References[]