Connections with

St Petersburg, Russia

(Known as Leningrad during the Soviet Era)

The Crossed Anchor and Grapnel with a Septre
are the Arms of St Petersburg City

   Merchants were a social group forming a part of the St. Petersburg population, individuals engaged in trade and industrial activities. In the first half of the 18th century merchants came in among the "planted people" whereupon Tsar Peter the Great forcibly sent merchants from Arkhangelsk and other cities with decrees of 1712 and 1714 stipulating the resettlement of more than 300 wealthy merchants to St. Petersburg. The so-called "guests" (by 1716 some 186 merchants were relocated) came to St. Petersburg and traded hemp, skins, flax, and canvas. Among the first merchants were I. Isaev (vice-president of the St. Petersburg City Council), I. Miklyaev, A. Bolotin, I. Veselovsky, I. Dmitrov and M. Evreinov. The Petersburg merchants, as they were all over Russia, were organized into guilds and enjoyed the right of self-government.  The City Charter in 1785 replaced the merchants’ capitation tax of paying a percent from their declared income and permitted them to pay in place of government service. In 1786 the 10 most eminent citizens in St. Petersburg and province included merchants and bankers, there were 288 merchants in the first guild, 394 in the second guild, 3,555 in the third guild. In the second half of the 19th century the numbers of merchants declined.  In 1869 there were about 22,300 people in the merchant class. (3.3% of the population) and  in 1897 - 17,400 (1.4%). comparing 1869/1897 .. of the merchants 77.5% and 80.4% were Russian, with 15.4% and 12% - German, and 4% and 5% Jewish. The German ethnic community formed a part of the St. Petersburg population. German language is related to the Germanic group of Indo-European languages. Their religion is Lutheran (amongst the St. Petersburg population up to 90%) and Catholic. Germans are the majority of the foreigners living in St. Petersburg. The German community was conceived at the same time as the city. Tsar Peter the Great invited German specialists to Russia, among many others. They consisted of artisans (from among these in the 19th century the most famous were the bakers), soldiers, civil servants, scholars, and doctors. The German community in St. Petersburg grew on account of the Germans in the Baltic states, especially Riga, as well as from immigrants from Germany, from the second half of the 18th century. From the second half of the 18th century there arose in St. Petersburg Province a German agricultural colony (on the territory of present day St. Petersburg - Grazhdanka, Vesely Poselok among others). In 1869 there were 45,600 Germans living in St. Petersburg.

Scenes of St Petersburg in the 18th/19th Century

St Petersburg was the capital and centre of tax collection

 St Petersburg was the capital and centre of tax collection during the Flax Trade Era. A fundamental mistake made by seal identifiers in the early days was that SPB or СПБ meant the seal came from St Petersburg. PeaceHavens Rules state it actually means that tax had been paid to St Petersburg. Every seal dated from 1829 with SPB or СПБ on the reverse and ЛД (LD) (flax inspector) on the obverse is a flax seal and by the same token every seal dated before 1829 with SPB or СПБ on the reverse and ПД (PD) (hemp inspector) on the obverse is a hemp seal.  All seals with NP on the reverse before 1829 are flax seals .. in fact there are no NP seals after 1829... tax paid to St Petersburg.  Both dew-retted and water-retted flax are exported from St Petersburg, the dew-retted or Slanitz flax being marked 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Crown, also Zebrack No. 1 and No. 2. St Petersburg and Archangel Tow are both classed as No1 and No2. Codilla was classed as Archangel, St Petersburg & Riga No. 2 and No. 3.   St. Petersburg ships Pskov 12 heads, Longa 12 heads, Staro Ruse 12 beads, Saletsky 12 heads, 9 heads, and 6 heads, all of which are white, or water-retted ; also Rjeff, let, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th crown, and Zabrack, all brown or dew-retted ; many other minor dew-retted flaxes come from St. Petersburg, bearing the names of the locality of production, as Melinki, Bejetsky, Ouglitcb, Kostroma, Jaroslav, Vologda, Wiasma.

Jews were an ethnic community within the St. Petersburg population. Hebrew is related to the Semitic group of Afrasian languages, Yiddish (was spread throughout the majority of eastern Russia) is related to the Germanic group of Indo-European family of languages. They are mostly followers of Judaism, though some have converted to Christianity. Converted Jews were among the associates of Tsar Peter the Great (diplomat P.P. Shafirov, Gen. Polismaster A.M. Devier). From the 1780s in St. Petersburg, Jewish merchants began to settle (T.N. Notkin, A.I. Peretz). However, the rights of Jews to live in the capital were restricted by special legislation. From the mid-19th century the Jewish community began to grow rapidly: in 1869, there were approximately 6,600 Jews; in 1910 - more than 35,100. Among the Jews minor craftsmen and traders predominated, but there were also doctors, lawyers, journalists and entrepreneurs. From the 1860s Jewish charitable societies operated, publishing papers in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. The Ginzburg Barons, rendered great assistance to the Jewish community. In 1893 a choral synagogue opened. In 1802 75 Jews were buried in a different part of Volkovskoe Lutheran Cemetery, from 1875 at their own Jewish cemetery. After October 1917, Jews received access to state organizations and city government, (significant posts were held by G.E. Zinovyev, М.S. Uritsky, V. Volodarsky).