{{Short description|Russian statesman}}{{Infobox nobility|name=Prince Alexei Borisovich Kurakin|image=File:Kurakin Alexey Borisovich.jpg|caption=Portrait of Prince Alexei Kurakin. Painting by Ludwig Guttenbrunn. [[Hermitage Museum]].|CoA=|tenure=|predecessor=|successor=|birth_name=Алексей Борисович Куракин|birth_date=19 September 1759|death_date=30 December 1829|death_place=Kurakino, Maloarkhangelsky District, [[Oryol Governorate]]|noble family=[[Kurakins]]|spouse=[[Natalia Kurakina|Natalia Ivanovna Golovina]]|issue=[[Boris Alekseevich Kurakin|Boris Alekseevich]]<br>Elena Alekseevna<br>Alexandra Alekseevna|father=[[Boris Kurakin (1733)|Boris–Leonty Alexandrovich]]|mother=[[Elena Kurakina|Elena Stepanovna Apraksina]]}}
Prince '''Alexei Borisovich Kurakin''' ({{langx|ru|Алексе́й Бори́сович Кура́кин}}; 19 September 1759 – 30 December 1829) was a Russian statesman, [[Active Privy Councillor, 1st class|Active Privy Councillor of the 1st class]] (1826), who held several top positions in the reign of [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]] and [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]]. The direct ancestor of all subsequent [[Kurakin princes]].
==Biography== [[File:Vladimir Borovikovsky 007.jpg|thumb|150px|Natalia Ivanovna, wife]]The younger brother of [[Alexander Kurakin|Alexander Borisovich Kurakin]], who was brought up together with the crown prince Pavel Petrovich (future emperor [[Paul I of Russia|Paul I]]) and this relationship was bound to take off his career in senior government positions, which began in the early days of Paul. From 1775 to 1776 he studied at [[Leiden University]]. In 1777 he received the title of chamber junker.
In 1793 he was granted a chamberlain, in 1795 promoted to a secret adviser; on 4 December 1796 he was appointed [[Prosecutor General of the Russian Empire|Prosecutor General]]; a few days later, on 19 December, he received the [[Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky]] and took the post of Chief Director of the [[Russian Assignation Bank]]. Being a procurator-general, he collected a "laid commission" – three books of laws on criminal, civil and state affairs, and re-established a school of junkers from the nobility under the [[Governing Senate|Senate]] to train them in jurisprudence. On 5 April 1797 he was granted the rank of [[Active Privy Councillor]], and on 19 December that year he was awarded the [[Order of St. Andrew|Order of Saint Andrew the First Called]]. Nevertheless, he fell into disgrace with the Emperor: on 8 August 1798 he was dismissed from the post of procurator-general; appointed as a senator, which meant an unconditional downgrade, and soon completely removed from public affairs. His brother Alexander also fell into disgrace.
He was again called up for public service by [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]]; on 4 February 1802 he was appointed Little Russian Governor-General. He was in office for about six years; during this time he spent a canal on the river Ostyor, took care of public education and public health.<ref>Ivan Pavlovsky. Outline of the Activities of the Little Russian Governor-General, Prince Alexei Kurakin. Poltava, 1914</ref> [[Mikhail Speransky]] began his career with Alexei Borisovich; first as Kurakin's personal secretary, later adopted by the patron in the Senate office.
Since 1804, Alexey Kurakin has been a member of the [[State Council (Russian Empire)|Permanent Council]]; often served as chairman. After the [[Treaties of Tilsit|Peace of Tilsit]], he received from Napoleon a large cross of the Order of the [[Legion of Honour]].
From 1807 to 1810, the Minister of the Interior. Being in this position, he arranged for the Main Board of Manufacturers and founded the Northern Mail (the New Saint Petersburg Newspaper). In 1808 he was awarded the highest award of [[Denmark–Norway|Denmark]] – the [[Order of the Elephant]].
Kurakin played a role during the [[1812–1819 Ottoman plague epidemic|Ottoman plague epidemic]] which hit Odessa in the autumn of 1812.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=G6W32VE42L0C&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA312 Travels in Russia, and a residence at St. Petersburg and Odessa, by Edward Morton]</ref><ref>[https://balkanist.net/plague-and-political-tyranny-odessa/ Odessa, 1812: Plague and Tyranny at the Edge of the Empire]</ref> Dismissive of any attempt to forge a compromise between quarantine requirements and free trade, Prince Kurakin (the Saint Petersburg-based High Commissioner for Sanitation) countermanded [[Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, duc de Richelieu|Richelieu's]] orders.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=QSd7DQAAQBAJ&dq=plague+Odessa+1812&pg=PA147 Migration and Disease in the Black Sea Region by Andrew Robarts, p. 148]</ref>
After leaving the post, again in the State Council. Since 1821, Chairman of the Department of State Economy of the State Council. Since 1826, the Chancellor of Russian orders. Member of the Supreme Criminal Court of the Decembrists.
According to Baron Heyking, Prince Kurakin was "a very handsome man, brilliant eyes and thick, black, beautifully drawn eyebrows, would give his appearance a stern expression if it were not softened by his friendly manners and polite tone of speech".<ref>Emperor Paul and His Time. Notes of Baron Heyking / / Russian Antiquities. 1887. Issues 10–12 – Page 368</ref>
==Family== [[File:Natalia_Kurakina_by_Vigée-Lebrun.jpg|thumb|''Portrait of Natalia Kurakina'' by [[Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun]], 1797.]]
Before his marriage, Kurakin was in love with Countess Ekaterina Ivanovna Chernysheva (1766-1830), but her father Count [[Ivan Chernyshyov]] considered a marriage to Prince Kurakin to be disadvantageous, especially since the latter was out of favour with Catherine II for his friendship with Grand Prince Pavel Petrovich. Chernysheva later married a handsome colonel Fyodor Fedorovich Vadkovsky (1756-1806).
On 15 February 1783, Prince Kurakin married [[Princess Natalia Ivanovna Kurakina|Natalya Ivanovna Golovina]] (1766-1831), a talented musician and composer, subsequently a stats-lady. There were three children in their marriage:<ref>{{cite book |last=[[Pyotr Petrov]] |date=2010 |title=The History of the Birth of the Russian Nobility. Kurakin Princes // History of Russian Heraldry |location=Moscow |publisher=Exmo |page=479 |isbn=978-5-699-33485-8 }}</ref> *[[Boris Alekseevich Kurakin|Boris Alekseevich]] (1783-1850), the godson of Empress Catherine II, the chamberlain and the senator, from 1808, was married to Princess Elizabeth Borisovna Golitsyna (1790-1871), daughter of Lieutenant General [[Boris Andreevich Golitsyn|Boris Golitsyn]]. *Elena Alekseevna (1787-1869), as well as a mother, a musician, and a singer, was first the bride of Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Volkonsky (1770-1835), later a senator, but the marriage did not take place, and she married Count Nikolai Ivanovich Zotov (1782-1849). Their youngest daughter, Elizabeth (1808-1872), maid of honor and state lady, was married to Prince [[Alexander Chernyshyov]]. *Alexandra Alekseevna (1788-1819) 1807 was married to Nikolai Sergeevich Saltykov (1786-1849), but two years later she left him for the sake of Colonel [[Pyotr Aleksandrovich Chicherin|Peter Alexandrovich Chicherin]] (1778-1848). He took her away from her husband and, without receiving a divorce, married her. This story made a lot of noise in the public. Prince [[Alexander Kurakin]], before his death, never again mentioned the name of his niece. The children of the Chicherins, four sons and two daughters, received the rights of legitimate children by the Highest Decree in December 1819, after the death of their mother. She died in May 1819 and was buried in the [[Coastal Monastery of Saint Sergius|Monastery of Saint Sergius]], near Saint Petersburg.
<gallery> File:B.A. Kurakin by Riesener.JPG|Boris Alekseevich, son File:Elisabeth Kurakina by Alexander Varnek.jpg|Elizaveta Borisovna, daughter-in-law File:Kurakina E.A.jpg|Elena Alekseevna, daughter File:Vladimir Loukitch BOROVIKOVSKIIKourakine.jpg|Elena and Alexandra, daughters File:Chicherin1.JPG|Peter Chicherin, son-in-law </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== *[http://dlib.rsl.ru/viewer/01002921660#?page=529 Kurakin, Prince Alexey Borisovich] // [[Russian Biographical Dictionary]]: In 25 volumes / Under the Supervision of [[Alexander Polovtsov]]. 1896–1918. *[https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ЭСБЕ/Куракины Kurakins] // [[Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary]]: in 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional) – Saint Petersburg, 1890–1907. *{{cite book |last=Alexander Kolpakidi |first=Alexander Sever |date=2010 |title=Special Services of the Russian Empire |location=Moscow |publisher=Yauza Eksmo |pages=72–74 |isbn=978-5-699-43615-6 }}
{{s-start}} {{succession box|title=[[List of Ministers of Interior of Russia|Minister of the Interior of the Russian Empire]]|before=[[Viktor Kochubey|Victor Kochubey]]|after=[[Osip Kozodavlev]]|years=1807 – 1810}} {{s-end}}
{{Russian General Governors in the Colonial Ukraine}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kurakin, Alexey}} [[Category:1759 births]] [[Category:1829 deaths]] [[Category:Kurakin family|Alexey]] [[Category:Russian princes]] [[Category:Active Privy Councillors, 1st class (Russian Empire)]] [[Category:Interior ministers of the Russian Empire]] [[Category:Senators of the Russian Empire]] [[Category:Members of the State Council (Russian Empire)]] [[Category:Leiden University alumni]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Andrew]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class]] [[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]