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Birthday anniversary of Sergey V. Rukhlov, Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire
June 24 (July 6) 1852, in Vologda, in the family of a provincial secretary was born Sergey Vasilievich Rukhlov, member of the State Council (1905-1917), one of the founders and the first chairman of the All-Russian National Union (1908), Minister of Transport of the Russian Empire (1909 - 1915).
Peasant’s grandson Rukhlov received his primary education in Vologda gymnasium. Then he entered the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University. After graduating from the university in 1873 with a candidate’s degree in law, he joined the Executive Police Department of the Interior Ministry, and in March 1876 became an assistant to the head of the department. In May 1879 Sergey was transferred to the Central Prison Department of the Ministry of Justice, where he had done much to reorganize the life and labor of prisoners.
In August 1892 Rukhlov was appointed Assistant Secretary of State of the State Council at the Department of State Economy, and from December 1895 occupied the post of the Secretary of State. In January 1903 Rukhlov was approved as an assistant to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, president of the merchant shipping and the ports, whom he repeatedly substituted during his absence, and in 1904 Rukhlov became one of the initiators of the formation and the first Chairman of the Russian Maritime Union.
In November 1905 Rukhlov was appointed to the State Council. Unlike many other dignitaries, he well took into account the social conditions in Russia which had changed during the revolution and took an active part in political life. In 1908, Sergey Vasilievich acted as one of the founders and the first chairman of a monarchist organization, "Russian National Union", whose activity was aimed at ensuring the rule of Russians within the Russian Empire and the consolidation of the Russian statehood on the basis of the autocracy.
In January 1909 Rukhlov took the post of the Minister of Railways of the Russian Empire, and his leadership of the office, up to the war of 1914, was marked with the last rise of rail and highway construction. Under his guidance, the capacity and profitability of railways significantly increased: for the first time in many years they began to bring profits. Rukhlov sought to coordinate the work of his Ministry and that of other agencies. Recognition of his services are special government awards received by the Minister for promoting the case of peasant migration to the outskirts of the empire, and for the excellent organization of transport during the mobilization of 1914. In May 1912, Emperor Nicholas II granted Rukhlov with the honorary title of the Secretary of State of His Imperial Majesty. In 1914, the minister was appointed a member of the Finance Committee, and in August 1915, he headed the Special Meeting on Transport.
Largely through the efforts of Rukhlov the railways of the Russian Empire had withstood the stress of the first year of the war. However, in 1915 a new aspirant for his position, A. F. Trepov, appeared, who considered that the transport area required further change. Thus, on October 27 (November 9) the Minister resigned, awarded with diamond symbols for the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, the portrait of Nicholas II with a handwritten signature. He remained, however, a member of the State Council with an increased pay. Summing up the results of his many years of service, Rukhlov said: "The whole point is that I was not making a career, it happened all by itself... I used to, no matter what kind of work turned up, to do it well, quite honestly, that's all. I wanted to meet the challenge not anyhow, but very well. That's the only secret of my career."
After the February Revolution, Rukhlov was under investigation, but in the spring of 1917 left Petrograd for Caucasus mineral water, for his estate near Pyatigorsk. August 29, 1918 the former minister was arrested by the Emergency Commission of the North Caucasus and in late October, together with other hostages of the case "On the attempt on the life of the leaders of the proletariat" was hacked with swords at the foot of Mount Mashuk, near Pyatigorsk.
Sergey Rukhlov was buried on the site of the massacre, near Lazarevskaya Church, in the same grave with other victims of the "Red Terror."
Lit.: А. В. К. [Круглоб А. В.] На службе Родине (По поводу 40-летнего юбилея С. В. Рухлова) // Светоч и дневник писателя. 1914. Январь. С. 125—126; Васильева М. Рухлов Сергей Васильевич // Вологда в минувшем тысячелетии: человек в истории города. Вологда, 2007; Рухлов С. В., Коковцев В. Н. Систематический сборник узаконений и распоряжений по тюремной част СПб., 1890; Министр путей сообщения С. В. Рухлов: 1909-1915 гг. Пг., 1916; Шилов Д. Н. Рухлов Сергей Васильевич // Государственные деятели Российской империи: Главы высших и центральных учреждений, 1802-1917 : Биобиблиографический справочник. СПб., 2002. С. 643-645.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials: