Szkic do portretu urzędników guberni północno-zachodnich Rosji do końca lat pięćdziesiątych XIX wieku na przykładzie urzędników izb skarbowych

ENThe article depicts the clerical environment in the Russian Empire’s north-western gubernias on a limited observation field. Employees of selected treasury chambers of the north-western gubernias of the fi rst half of the nineteenth century are analysed, with their social and national background, education, family situation, and material status of the group – the emerging professional intelligentsia. The analysis is based on descriptions of the service status of employees of individual tax chambers preserved in Lithuanian and Belarussian archives, annual reports of the chambers, documentation of nobility deputations, educational institution files, and rank promotions. Descriptions of the service status of employees of the Vilnius, Grodno and Minsk tax chambers made it possible to identify 225 officials. The analysis shows the environment of a constituting stratum of the intelligentsia, originating mainly from the declassed gentry of Polish origin. The choice of a clerical career path was most oft en dictated by the need to provide material security and escape social degradation. An intermediate or incomplete secondary education characterised the group. Low payments prevented the material stability of clerks, which contributed to their celibacy. Keywords: officials, 19th century, partitioned territories, administration, treasury chambers, nobility.