Matthew Shiffner

Matthew Shiffner (c. 1690 – December 1756) was a Russian-born merchant, of German Baltic origins. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1711, before exploiting family connections to rise to prominence as a leading merchant in Russia; his links with the Russian Company allowed for him to become a major exporter of Russian goods to Britain in the 1730s. As favour at the imperial court changed from 1740, he moved over to London, where he ran his affairs from offices on Broad Street until his death.

Early life and origins

Estimates place Shiffner's birth and around 1690. Although speculation and rumours by later genealogists made him a son of "an Archbishop of Riga", Shiffner's origins are obscure, though he likely hailed from a Baltic German background.

He became a naturalised English Citizen in 1711 under the Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act 1708. Shortly afterwards, he joined the Russian Company, which had, until 1698, a monopoly on trade between England and Russia and continued to operate successfully for over two centuries afterwards. He returned to Russia and is recorded as a 'Postdirektor' of Riga in 1720; he married into a locally prominent Baltic German family when he took as his wife Hedwig Agnata Bruiningk, daughter of Heintrich Bruiningk, a university-educated pastor and Generalsuperintendant of the Lutheran Church in Livonia.

The Tsarina's death in 1740 ended the prominence of the firm and Shiffner moved back to London, He died in December 1756 The family business was taken over by his sons, Henry and John, who continued to trade with the Baltic region; they were declared insolvent in 1761, which Henry is recorded as blaming on John's "foolishness".

Family

His marriage to Agnata produced six children, four sons and two daughters: Samuel Shiffner (died 1762), became a merchant in Jamaica. Dr. Matthew Shiffner, received £2000 by his father's will and a Doctorate from Leiden University. Catherine Shiffner, married Matthew Dorien of London. Benigna Gotlieb Shiffner, a god-daughter of Tsarina Anna, she received £4000 by her father's will and married Vincent John Biscoe of Surrey.

Archives The Shiffner Papers, deposited at the East Sussex Record Office