Fabian Steinheil
Fabian Gotthard von Steinheil (Russian: Фадде́й Фёдорович Ште́йнгель, tr. Faddéy Fyódorovich Shtéyngelʹ; 14 October 1762 – 23 February 1831) was a Baltic German who served as a Russian military officer and the Governor-General of Finland between 1810 and 1824.
Fabian Gotthard von Steinheil | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by George Dawe | |
| Other name(s) | Faddey Fyodorovich Steinheil |
| Born | 3 October 1762 Hapsal (now Lääne County, Estonia) |
| Died | 7 March 1831 Helsingfors, Grand Duchy of Finland |
| Allegiance | Russian Empire |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | Imperial Russian Army |
| Battles/wars | Russo-Swedish War (1788–90) Napoleonic Wars |
Steinheil was born in Hapsal, Estonia. His father's family was from region of Upper Rhine in Germany (where they had been burghers and officials of their hometowns); and his mother was from a cadet branch of the ancient Baltic House of Tiesenhausen, daughter of nobleman Fromhold Fabian Tiesenhausen, lord of Orina in Estonia. Stenheil's uncle and father had received a baronial title from the imperial authorities.
Fabian von Steinheil became a lieutenant in the Imperial Russian Army in 1782. He took part in the war in Finland in 1788 and in 1791-92 he worked with construction of fortifications in Old Finland, after which he served in military cartography.
He became a Major General in 1789 and took part in the campaigns in Prussia in 1806-1807 and Poland in 1805-1807. He became a Lieutenant General in 1807 and commanded the Russian troops on Åland in 1809 during the Finnish War.
In 1810 he was appointed as the Governor-General of Finland, to succeed Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly. He was well regarded by the Finnish population and was made a count in 1812. In 1813 he took part in the war against Napoleon as the commander of an army in Courland and Livonia, and was succeeded as Governor-General by the influential Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt. However, due to Armfelt's fragile health, Steinheil soon returned to the post of Governor-General which he held to 1824, being then succeeded by Count Arseniy Zakrevskiy.
He remained in Finland and died in Helsingfors in 1831.
Honours and awards
- Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
- Order of Saint Anna, 1st class
- Order of St. Vladimir, 2nd class
- Gold Sword for Bravery
- Order of St. George, 3rd class
- Order of St. George, 4th class
- Order of the Red Eagle 1st Class
