The Governor-General of Finland (in Finnish Suomen kenraalikuvernööri; in Swedish Generalguvernör av Finland) was the military commander and the highest administrator of Finland in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, between 1808 and 1917.

His position was the vicar of the monarch, who was not personally present in Helsinki, but resided in St Petersburg, just outside Finnish borders. Thereby, Governor General was constitutionally the chairman of the Senate of Finland, the government in the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland (the chairmanship, with two votes, belonged constitutionally to the Grand Duke of Finland). The Governor-General was the highest representative of the Russian Tsar/Grand Duke of Finland and received his instructions directly from the Tsar.

Finnish citizenship was not required of the Governor General, contrary to all other highest positions such as Senators (members of the senate) and Finnish Minister Secretary of State. Most governors-general, and all he later ones, were Russians, men whom the Emperor trusted as counterparts of potential Finnish separatism. Many of them, up to baron Rokassovski, however were made also Finnish subjects, by granting them a Finnish nobility rank.

Many of the Governors-General were intensively disliked by the Finnish population. The first man on the post, Sprengtporten, resigned after only a year and Bobrikov was assassinated in 1904 by Finnish nationalist Eugen Schauman. Ot the other hand, several Governors-General worked in a way that guaranteed the Finnish autonomy in face of interests of ministers of Russian general government.

Governor-General Prince Menshikov (1831-55) sojourned his entire term in St Petersburg, being simultaneously the Russian Minister of Navy. Gubernatorial duties in Helsinki were cared for by Deputy Governor General. For most of the term, in that position was General Alexander Amatus Thesleff.

List of Governors-General of Finland

• Count Georg Magnus Sprengtporten (December 1 1808 - June 17 1809)
• Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (June 17 1809 - February 1 1810)
• Count Fabian Steinheil (1810 - 1813)
• Count Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt (1813)
• Count Fabian Steinheil (1814 - 1824)
• Count Arseni Andreyevich Zakrevski (1824 - 1831)
• Prince (Knyaz, Fürst) Alexander Menshikov (1831 - 1855)
• Count Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg (1855 - 1861)
• Baron Platon Ivanovich Rokassovski (1861 - 1866)
• Count Nikolai Adlerberg (1866 - 1881)
• Count Feodor Logginovich Heiden (1881 - 1898)
• General Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov (August 29 1898 - June 17 1904)
• Prince (Knyaz, Fürst) Ivan Mihailovich Obolenski (August 18 1904 - November 18 1905)
• Nikolai Nikolajevich Gerhard (December 6 1905 - February 2 1908)
• Vladimir Aleksandrovich Boeckmann (February 2 1908 - November 24 1909)
• Franz Albert Seyn (November 24 1909 - March 16 1917)
• Mihail Aleksandrovich Stahovich (March 31 1917 - September 17 1917)
• Nikolai Vissarionovich Nekrasov (September 17 1917 - November 7 1917)

See also

• Grand Duke of Finland
• Diet of Finland
• Governor-General in the Swedish Realm
• Monarchy of Finland
• Finnish Minister Secretary of State
• List of Finnish rulers

Grand Duchy of Finland | History of Finland

Suomen kenraalikuvernööri | Guvernatorul general al Finlandei | Generalguvernör av Finland