Medical men
Catherine the Great was a pioneer in her
approach to medicine and health care. Not only did she found
Russia’s College of Medicine in 1763, but she also created the
first teaching hospital and decreed provisions for medical care
throughout the Russian provinces.
Among the Scottish physicians at her court was Dr
John Rogerson, who arrived in Russia in 1766. He came to
the attention of the Empress after saving the life of her close
friend Princess Dashkova, and became Catherine’s personal
physician.
In 1768, Catherine invited Dr Thomas
Dimsdale to come from Aberdeen to Russia to inoculate her
and her son Paul against smallpox, the main cause of death in the
eighteenth century. This was a bold decision, as the effectiveness
and safety of vaccination was still a contentious issue at the
time. Dr Dimsdale went on to inoculate many members of the
nobility, and ran vaccination hospitals set up by Catherine in
Moscow and St Petersburg.
Edinburgh-born Dr Matthew
Guthrie first arrived in Russia in 1769. He went on to
become the Chief Medical Officer of the Corps of Noble Gentlemen, a
post he held until his death. A man of many interests, Guthrie
wrote a work on Russian peasants, comparing them to the ancient
Greeks. It was dedicated to Catherine, who was delighted with the
comparison. Guthrie also sent articles to the Edinburgh magazine,
the Bee, and was elected a Fellow of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland.
Architects and craftsmen
Catherine engaged several foreign architects
and builders. She invited the Neo-classical architect
Charles Cameron to Russia in 1779; he worked
mainly at Tsarskoye Selo (the ‘Tsar’s Village’) and Pavlovsk, near
St Petersburg.
Cameron was instructed by Catherine to place
an advert in an Edinburgh newspaper for Scottish craftsmen to
assist him in Russia. On 3 May 1784, 140 people set sail from
Leith. Amongst them were Adam Menelaws and
William Hastie, who – like Cameron – would find
patronage with the Imperial family.
Above: Design for the Window Wall of the
Chinese Hall in the Great Palace at Tsarskoye
Selo by Charles Cameron, c. 1780. Image © The
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
During the early 1780s, the Scottish
gem-engraver James Tassie received orders from
Catherine to supply thousands of copies of Classical carved
gemstones from public and private collections. The finished cast
copies were delivered between 1783 and 1788, in specially made
cabinets, accompanied by a five-volume handwritten catalogue.
Catherine’s patronage enabled Tassie to expand
his business. In all, the Empress acquired about 15,000 copies,
which has resulted in the Hermitage Museum having the largest
collection of Tassie’s work in the world.
Naval know how
Admiral Samuel Greig was a
born in Inverkeithing, Fife, where his father owned a merchant
ship, ‘The Thistle’, which regularly traded with Russia.
A British naval officer, Greig responded to Catherine’s call for
naval expertise. He excelled himself at the Battle of Chesme in
1770, where he was responsible for the four fire ships which were
sent in to destroy the Turkish fleet.
Above: Painting depicting The Destruction of
the Turkish Fleet at the Battle of Chesme, by Jacob Philip Hackert,
1771. Image © The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.
Greig was held in such high esteem by the
Empress that when he fell gravely ill she sent her own physician,
Dr John Rogerson, to attend him. Greig never recovered and died on
board his ship, the Rostislav. His state funeral was held
in Tallinn Cathedral and Catherine ordered her architect Quarenghi
to produce drawings for Greig’s tomb.
Lioness of the nursery
Catherine employed a Scot, Jane
Lyon, to look after her third grandson, Nicholas, the
future Tsar Nicholas I. Jane followed her father and brothers who
had come to Russia in 1779 to work for Charles Cameron. For the
first seven years of Nicholas’s life, Jane was responsible for his
welfare and education. He called her ‘my lioness’ and she remained
with the Imperial family for over 40 years.
In 1816 Nicholas visited London and Edinburgh.
During his time in Edinburgh, he bought three paintings by William
Allan of Russian scenes. He also seems to have acquired a full
Highland outfit for his brother, Tsar Alexander I.