Pyotr Bark

Pyotr Bark.

Pyotr Lvovich Bark (Russian: Пётр Львович Барк) later Sir Peter Bark, (18 April 1869 – 16 January 1937) was a Russian statesman.

Biography

Bark was born in Novotroitskoye village in Yekaterinoslav Governorate, He was descended from a noble family from Latvia. His father Karl Ludwig Bark (later Ludwig Genrikhovich after converting to the Russian Orthodox faith) was a forestry manager for the Royal forests.

After studying law in St. Petersburg university, Pyotr Bark entered Credit Chancellery of the Ministry of Finance in 1891. Later he acted as a private secretary to the governor of the State Bank of Russia. In 1903 he went to Berlin to study banking with Mendelssohn & Co. On his return he was appointed manager of the foreign department of the State Bank. Later he became deputy Governor of the State Bank.

He resigned from his post in 1907 to accept appointment in private Volga-Kama Bank.

In 1911 Bark was appointed Assistant Minister of Commerce and Industry; In 1914 he was appointed Minister of Finance, replacing Vladimir Kokovtsov. He served in that position throughout the First World War until the abdication of Nicholas II.

Although briefly detained by the Provisional Government he was soon released after which he immigrated to the west. Held the position of Managing-Director of the Anglo-International Bank based in London. Knighted by King George V of the United Kingdom and the other realms in 1935 for his contributions to banking industry.

Bark married Baronness Sofia Leopoldovna von Behr (1867-1957) and had two children: a daughter, Nina (1900-1975) and a son, Georgiy (1904-1936)

Bark died in Aubagne, France and is buried in the Russian cemetery in Nice.

References

• Harcave, Sidney. (2004). Count Sergei Witte and the Twilight of Imperial Russia: A Biography. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-1422-3 (cloth)
• Kokovtsov, Vladimir. (1935). Out of My Past (translator, Laura Matveev). Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Bernard Pares. Sir Peter Bark. The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 16, No. 46 (Jul., 1937), pp. 189–193.