Vladimir Aleksandrovich Cherkasskii

Born Feb. 2 (14), 1824, in Chern’ District, Tula Province; died Feb. 19 (Mar. 3), 1878, in San Stefano, now Yesilkôy, Turkey. Russian public figure; prince.

Cherkasskii graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University in 1844. He was close to the Slavophiles and contributed to the journal Russkaia beseda. As a member of the Tula provincial committee and the Editing Commissions, Cherkasskii took part in the preparations for the abolition of serfdom; he advocated supplying the peasants with land in return for redemption payments. He served as the mirovoi posrednik (official assisting in the implementation of the Peasant Reform of 1861) of Tula Province from 1861 to 1863.

Until 1866, Cherkasskii was chief director of the government commission for the internal and spiritual affairs of the Kingdom of Poland. Together with N. A. Miliutin and Iu. F. Samarin, he drafted the law granting Polish peasants ownership of the land they used. In the early 1870’s he served as gorodskoi golova (mayor) of the city of Moscow; he was the initiator of a liberal appeal to Alexander II. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, Cherkasskii was in charge of Red Cross work with the army in the field and headed the civil administration in Bulgaria.