Cosmopolitan Young Men’s Education

In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Russia, a man’s official rank, legal and social status, and wealth were the most important factors that determined his place in the social hierarchy.

First, in Russia, ennoblement was usually guaranteed after twenty-five years in state service or for outstanding services to the state. The status of an imperial officer or ennobled civil servant was much more esteemed than a career in trade, which did not automatically lead to ennoblement. Hence, a career in military service was favoured; it was also a ticket to high-ranking civil service posts.12 Despite the new opportunities in the civil service and the opportunities provided by business and industrialisation, ennoblement never lost its prestige (Rahikainen 2015; Snellman 2014; de Madariaga 2007; Gluschkoff 2008).

At this time in Russia, it was typical that a young man received his military training within his regiment rather than at a formal cadet or military academy. Many of the young Germans started their careers in a regiment while being supervised and patronised by fellow German officers. Anton Georg Laube, for example, was probably supported by an esteemed Preobrazhensky Lifeguard Regiment officer Nikolai Friedrich von Engelhardt, whose mother13 belonged to the extended family under study (Paaskoski 2003). Carl Alexander Hackman, in turn, followed his uncle’s footsteps into a military career, as did his own nephew,14 Julius Hackman, some twenty years later (Hackman, Julius Fredrik; Autio 2007, 734–736; Kalleinen 2007, 736–738; Screen and Syrjo 2003, 23, 24, 28, 35–37, 367–369). Both Hackmans received their education at Hamina Cadet School in Finland.

An officer’s career provided prestige, but there were always some who choose not to wear a military uniform. A second option was to choose a career in the civil service or the church. During the nineteenth century, there was a substantial need for civil servants, and a career in His Imperial Majesty’s service was stable and profitable in many cases. Moreover, it could lead to ennoblement (Gluschkoff 2008). A career in the church, on the other hand, was not a popular choice among the Germans in Vyborg because it did not offer enough opportunities for social advancement.16 As many priests lived in poverty, a career in the church represented social advancement only for those young men who came from families of a lower social background (Kotivuori 2005; Tigerstedt 1952, 37; Hackman 1819a).

As with the girls’ education, there were no schools for boys in Vyborg or Narva that would have provided a sufficiently high-quality education in the German language. Carl Behm, a German graduate in theology, established a private school in Vyborg in the 1850s. Behm’s school improved the situation somewhat. The studies focused on modern languages, which suited those who aimed at a merchant’s career. Wilhelm and Edward Hackman studied at this school (Tigerstedt 1952, 35–44). Narva was smaller than Vyborg, and there were even fewer suitable, good-quality schools there.

Private tutors were hired to teach sons. Both in business and in the military, a man had to know how to entertain guests, play an instrument, know the fashionable card games, and converse in polite society using French.

Marie Hackman hired several tutors to teach her two young sons languages, mathematics, dancing, and music. Hiring a private tutor did not mean that this would have been the only education the boys received. The elder son, Johan Friedrich Hackman Jr, for example, went to the local gymnasium and received private tutoring. In the Hackman family, the accounts reveal that when sons were seven to eighteen years old, the money spent on their education formed one of the biggest household expenses. The money was spent not only on tutors but also on books and musical and scientific instruments.

Young German men who did not choose a military career often started their studies in the German St Petri School in St Petersburg. Modern languages and sciences were taught at this school from the 1740s. The curriculum also included dancing, music, and the arts (Donninghaus 2002, 163–226; Koch 2002, 121–129). For example, Johan Laube, the brother of Anton Georg Laube, received his formal education at this school. He served the state as a postmaster and vice governor of several Russian provinces, and he was ennobled after twenty-five years of service. There were also private German schools in St Petersburg that offered places to youngsters from Vyborg and Narva. Before his military training, Carl Alexander Hackman spent a year or two at Mr Montague’s pensionate in St Petersburg (Hackman 1819b).

Vyborg’s gymnasium prepared its pupils for ecclesiastical careers, which is one of the reasons why the German families in the city preferred sending their sons to private lyceums.

Several young men of the extended family chose to study at university. Indeed, there was a long history of members of the Northern Baltic German community studying at German universities. From 1802, after being re-established, the University of Dorpat became an option. For example, Eduard Sutthoff studied economics at the Imperial University of Dorpat (Blomstedt 1949, 28–35; Sutthoff 1816). It seems that the Narva Sutthoffs in particular chose the University of Dorpat, while young men from Vyborg headed to German universities or—in the latter part of the nineteenth century—to the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki. Studies in law or medicine were popular choices, but it was not until the late nineteenth-century that a truly academic career became an option (Bowring 2013, 26–29; Becker 2011, 26; Fischer 2010, 242–243; Heerde 2006, 326–327).

At certain times, university studies were a beneficial strategy; after academic studies, a position in state service guaranteed a somewhat steady income (compared to a career in business) and, ultimately, the possibility of ennoblement (Gluschkoff 2008). However, the family took care that there were always members of the younger generation growing into managerial positions in the family firm. The family business was the chief priority, as Johan Friedrich Hackman Jr reasoned in his letter to Zachris Topelius. The Hackman youths had lived at Topelius’ house in Helsinki while studying at the university. Victor Hackman, who studied law, had made some mistakes, and his father wanted to call him home (Tigerstedt 1952, 38–39):

[S]ince you know how modest a career a lawyer or doctor in Finland can expect, unless possessed of high birth or extraordinary skills….

One option was to enter business life, which might have been an option for those less skilled in academic subjects. If a young man wanted to become a merchant, he would have to learn the trade through practice. Typically, young men were sent abroad to finish their education in business, and merchants were trained through placements—learning by doing—all over Europe (Bull 2002). The Swedish law of 1734, which was used in Vyborg, stated that a merchant had to have decent training and qualifications to become a merchant. He should have sufficient skills in mathematics, bookkeeping, and different measurements. Apprenticeship lasted seven years, and the young apprentice had to work for four years as a clerk before he could become an independent merchant. If the young man was a son of a merchant, his training time could be reduced since he would have learned the trade while growing up (Nyberg and Jakobsson 2012, 41–43, 156–158; Vainio-Korhonen 2010, 221–227).

Johan Friedrich Hackman Jr and his sons Woldemar and Victor Hackman learnt the trade in the traditional way. The Hackmans stayed at several merchant houses in Germany and Britain learning the skills of a businessman. They all became successful merchants and managers of the family firm. A letter, written in 1821 to a Liverpool merchant, reveals what the young men were supposed to learn during their internship (Hackman 1821a):

Mr J. Friedr. Hackman, the eldest son of our Mrs Hackman and now on a voyage from Bremen to Your city with intention to stay there a few months for to get a strict Idea of Your ports trade, chiefly in Deals [timber] & Salt. We beg, You kindly will give him all informations in that respect and should be glad if You would allow him to assist You in some transactions of that kind and to be present when Deals are measured, sold and delivered, that he get the necessary knowledge of Your customs and which Dimensions & qualities are the most desired with You.

At the same time, merchant houses in the Northern Baltic offered places to young German and British men to learn their trade. At Hackman & Co., several young German and British men were trained and introduced to Baltic trade. Young men also headed to St Petersburg, where German merchant houses offered training places. For example, Paul Wahl, the son of the minister of the German congregation in Vyborg, stayed at Baron Rall’s banking house. Rall was a banker to the Court (Lebedev 2001, 21–38), and he took care of Hackman & Co.’s monetary transactions in St Petersburg. After this training, Paul Wahl was taken on as a co-partner at Hackman & Co. (Tigerstedt 1952, 34).

It was not always easy to obey one’s parents’ orders. When Johan Friedrich Hackman Jr travelled to Britain, he complained about his imperfect English skills. The answer he received from home offered no room for negotiation: ‘When you are on English soil, you must speak the country’s language.’ The letter continues, with a slightly unencouraging tone, that after twenty to thirty years of training, the Englishmen would no longer laugh at him (Hackman 1821b). The family business needed a manager who could speak and write English; the British merchant houses were important business partners and buyers of Vyborg timber. Hackman Jr learnt how international shipping worked, he got to know the local measurements and the most important aspects of the business, and he had made lifelong friendships with British merchants. In turn, these friends sent their sons to Vyborg to learn business.18

During the nineteenth century, new opportunities opened. A career in engineering and technology became an option with the spread of industrialisation. Young Germans from the Northern Baltic—like Wilhelm Hackman, for example—headed to a polytechnic in Stuttgart. The family strategy was to introduce technical knowledge into the timber business. The 1850s and 1860s were a period of rapid industrialisation, and the new polytechnics met the need to educate civil engineers and technicians. It seems, however, that technical knowledge obtained from special schools was not a crucial factor as the family firms moved into the new industrial era. Few had formal technical training. Eduard Alexander Sutthoff, for example, managed to enlarge his family firm, Carl Sutthoff & Co., in the field of chemistry without having any formal training in the subject.

When more opportunities for institutionalised training and education became possible, one strategy was to spread sons across as many institutions as possible. As demonstrated earlier, some young men were sent to learn engineering, while others chose jurisprudence. Both could benefit the family business. The family strategy was expansive since new branches and industries were introduced to the family firm during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Then, for example, Wilhelm Hackman’s expertise in chemicals and his technical expertise benefitted the family business as it sought new opportunities in the pulp industry.