Sofija Stepanovna Shcherbatova

Sofija Stepanovna Shcherbatova ( Firmin Massot , 1810s)

Sofija Stepanovna Schtscherbatowa , born Sofia Stepanovna Apraxina , ( Russian София Степановна Щербатова * 1798 in Moscow † January 22, ^jul. / 3. February  1885 ^greg. Ibid) was a Russian maid , philanthropist and patron .

Life

Sofija Stepanovna was the daughter of the general of the cavalry Stepan Stepanowitsch Apraxin , who was a godchild of Catherine II , and granddaughter of Field Marshal Stepan Fyodorowitsch Apraxin . Her mother was the lady-in-waiting Ekaterina Vladimirovna Apraxina nee Golitsyna, daughter of Prince Vladimir Borissowitsch Golitsyn . She grew up with her sister Natalija at Castle Olgowo of the Apraxins (80 km north of Moscow). It was an open house for all of Moscow. There was its own theater, actors , musicians , balls, Fireworks and hunts . Frequent guests were the young Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin , his uncle Vasily Lvovich Pushkin , Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky and other art lovers. The two daughters received instruction in languages, literature , music and art . Sofija Stepanovna was enthusiastic about painting and drawing landscapes . She read a lot from Plato and Seneca to short stories and novels .

In January 1817 Sofija Stepanovna married in St. Petersburg the widowed general of the infantry Prince Alexei Grigoryevich Shcherbatov, 22 years her senior, in St. Isaac's Cathedral . Groomsmen were Count WW Tolstoy and Jakow Fyodorowitsch Skarjatin for the groom and Prince Vladimir Dmitriyevich Golitsyn and Stepan Alexandrowitsch Talysin for the bride. The couple first traveled in Europe for a few years and then settled in St. Petersburg. The summer they spent at Castle Litwinowo the Schtscherbatows in Rajon Naro-Fominsk . Her children Ekaterina (1818–1869, husband Illarion Illarionowitsch Wassiltschikow ), Natalja (1819–1826), Grigori (1819–1881), Olga (1823–1879, husband SF Golitsyn), Boris (1824–1826), Vladimir (1826–1826) 1888) and Alexander (1829–1902) educated them himself without the involvement of a governess , created a curriculum, hired the best teachers and attended classes almost every day.

In 1843, Prince Shcherbatov became military general governor in Moscow, so that the family now lived in Moscow. Her house was the center of the old capital for a long time. Princess Shcherbatova organized large receptions and used her position and influence in society for charitable purposes. In 1844 she founded the Ladies Welfare Society to help those who shy away from asking for help. She remained its president until 1876. In 1847 a poor house, a hospital, a children's home and a church were built at the Novospassky monastery , all of which bear the name of Shcherbatovas.

After the death of her husband in 1848, Shcherbatova informed the Emperor Nicholas I that she had given the sum of money received to her society for the services of her deceased husband. During the cholera epidemic in Moscow in 1848, together with the doctor Friedrich Joseph Haass , she organized the Nikolskoje community to provide help to the needy. Sisters of this community continued their ministry during the Crimean War .

Shcherbatova donated children's homes, poor houses for the elderly and houses for the homeless in Moscow. She resurrected the prison committees. Thanks to Shcherbatova's initiative, at the instigation of the Poor Welfare Society of Women, the engineer Christian Christianowitsch Meien opened the Komissarow Technical School in 1865 with funds from the railway entrepreneur Pyotr Ionowitsch Gubonin to train children of poor parents and orphans as craftsmen. Shcherbatova personally managed the charitable institutions she founded and organized into old age . When this was no longer possible for her, she made sure that her work continued responsibly, which she continued to observe in an advisory capacity.

Shcherbatova was court lady, lady of state and Kawalerstvennaya Dama of the Order of St. Catherine II class (since 1824).

One week before her death, Shcherbatova wrote her will with her own hand , without forgetting anyone around her. She was buried next to her husband in the Donskoy Monastery cemetery. Three months after her death, her son, Prince Alexander Alexejewitsch Shcherbatov, handed over his mother's property on Moscow's Sadowaja-Kudrinskaya Ulitsa to the Moscow Guardianship Council for the construction of a children's hospital, which opened in 1897 (today Filatov Municipal Children's Hospital No. 13).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Щербатова, княгиня Софья Степановна (урожденная Апраксина) . In: Русский биографический словарь А. А. Половцова . tape 24 , 1912, pp. 89 ( Wikisource [accessed March 14, 2020]).
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Sevastopol : Княгиня София Степановна Щербатова, урождённая Апраксина-кавалерственная кавалерственнаяо инама орденая Апраксина-кавалерственнаяо инама верденая ераксиная кавалерственнаяо инама ордате Еривыц, accessed on March 14, 2020.
3. ↑ Князь А. А. Щербатов: На службе Москве и Отечеству . Русский Міръ, Moscow 2009.
4. ↑ Молева Н .: Знакомые незнакомки . In: Мир женщины . No. 9 , 1997, pp. 12 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Крылова И .: Первая в  Москве детская больница . In: Московский журнал . ( [1] [accessed May 1, 1999]).
6. ↑ Островская И. В., Широкова Н. В .: Основы сестринского дела: учебник . ГЭОТАР-Медиа, Moscow 2008.