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History of the Moscow City authorities >> Heads of the Moscow City administration before 1917 >> Vassily Semyonovich YERSHOV - Administrator of the Moscow Gubernia (22 February 1711 - January 1712), Deputy Governor of Moscow (January 1712 - 1719)

Vassily Semyonovich

YERSHOV

1672 – after 1729

Administrator of the Moscow Gubernia

22 February 1711 – January 1712

Deputy Governor of Moscow

January 1712 – 1719

According to some sources, V.S. Yershov came from a family of serfs on the estate of the boyar Prince M.A. Cherkassky. He secured advancement as a pribylshchik, the name given in the early 18th century to people who drew up projects on increasing state revenue. From 1704 to 1709, Yershov was the judge (head) of the court chancellery, and then of the Equestrian Office. According to the author of an anonymous letter, Yershov "secured profits" of more than 90,000 roubles while occupying these posts.

On 22 February 1711, Yershov replaced Streshnyev as "administrator" of the Moscow gubernia. At the beginning of the following year, however, due to his "low" origins, he was transferred to the post of deputy governor under M.G. Romodanovsky. Following the death of the latter in January 1713, he was acting head of the gubernia office for six months until the appointment of the new governor, A.E. Saltykov.

The senators often "punished Yershov with curses and shouts, and threatened him with larruping or prison" for his obduracy. There were also constant clashes of opinion with Saltykov, a protege of the Senate. In 1714, the Senate even issued a special decree forbidding the deputy governor to "undertake business" without permission from his immediate superior. The following year, Yershov publicly accused Saltykov of embezzlement. Saltykov was removed from his post, while his opponent remained deputy governor under the new governor, K.A. Naryshkin.

Yershov put forward a number of projects for increasing revenue, preventing desertion by recruits, recovering unpaid taxes, and preventing extortion in state institutions by "administering according to ancient laws".

From 1721 to 1723, Yershov was head of the Monastery Office.

In 1727 he fell into disfavour following the arrest of A.D. Menshikov, a close friend. His papers and property were inventorised by the investigators, and from this inventory it is clear that Yershov personally supervised the business of the gubernia office: in his house was a "chest with the official documents of the office of the Moscow gubernia".

In 1729, having obtained the permission of Peter II, Yershov entered a monastery in Pereslavl-Zalessky.