Wladimir Alexandrowitsch Boeckmann

Woldemar Alexander Valerian von Boeckmann (; 12 June 1848 – 26 November 1923) was a Russian general who served as the governor-general of Finland from 1908 to 1909. Although known in Russian government circles as a "hard man" expected to advance Russification policies, he refused to provoke a constitutional conflict with the Finns and was forced to resign as a result.

Biography

Military career Boeckmann pursued a long military career in the Imperial Russian Army, commanding the 8th Cavalry Division from 1899 to 1904, the 12th Army Corps from 1904 to 1905, and the 20th Army Corps from 1905 to 1906. He led the suppression of the uprising in Courland during the Russian Revolution of 1905, and from 1906 to 1908 commanded the 22nd Army Corps stationed in Finland.

Governor-General of Finland Boeckmann succeeded Nikolai Gerhard as the governor-general of Finland in February 1908.

In May 1908, Leo Mechelin's constitutional senate was forced to resign and was replaced by a coalition senate led by Edvard Hjelt. Most of the senators resigned in April 1909, however, following a dispute over a land lease decree. Boeckmann proposed that native Finns serving in the Russian military outside Finland be appointed to the senate, a solution that was accepted and led to the formation of the so-called Admiral Senate in October 1909.

In the summer of 1909, Boeckmann responded to a petition from Finns by stating that, if it were up to him, Finnish laws would be upheld. This statement provoked the nationalist Russian press, and at the end of November 1909, Boeckmann was forced to submit his resignation.

Later life He was appointed to the State Council in 1909 but took little further part in public life. After the Russian Revolution, he returned to Finland and spent his final years at the Halila sanatorium in Nykyrka on the Karelian Isthmus as a guest of the Finnish state.

Awards Order of Saint Anna, 3rd class, 1874 Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov), 2nd class, 1878 Order of Saint Anna, 2nd class, 1885 Order of Saint Vladimir, 4th class, 1889 Order of Saint Vladimir, 3rd class, 1895 Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov), 1st class, 1898 Order of Saint Anna, 1st class, 1902 Order of Saint Vladimir, 2nd class, 1907 Order of the White Eagle (Russian Empire) (8 August 1916)