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Feodor Ivanovich Pryanishnikov
Фёдор Иванович Прянишников
Born	(1793-02-02)February 2, 1793 Perm
Died	April 28, 1867(1867-04-28) (aged 74) Saint Petersburg
Resting place	Saint Petersburg 59°53′52″N 30°19′30″E
Nationality	Russian Empire
Citizenship	Russian Empire
Education	Certificate of Higher Education
Alma mater	Saint Petersburg State University
Occupation(s)	postal administrator, actual privy councillor
Years active	1804–1866
Known for	civil service, patronage, freemasonry
Title	Director of the St. Petersburg Post Office and Russian Postal Department
Term	1835–1863
Predecessor	Konstantin Bulgakov
Successor	Ivan Tolstoy
Spouse	Vera Leonrod ​ (m. 1818⁠–⁠1867)​
Children	none
Parent(s)	Ivan Pryanishnikov French woman
Awards	Order of St. Anna 1824, 1827, 1839 Order of St. Vladimir 1825, 1828, 1843, 1863 Order of Saint Stanislaus (Imperial House of Romanov) 1837 Order of the Red Eagle 1838, 1843 Order of the Iron Crown 1843 Order of the White Eagle 1846 Order of the Polar Star 1846 Order of the Redeemer 1848 Order of St. Alexander Nevsky 1851

Feodor Pryanishnikov (2 February 1793 – 28 April 1867) was a Russian actual privy councillor and postal administrator.

Biography

In 1824, F. I. Pryanishnikov joined the Postal Department of the Russian Empire. He worked under the Department's Commander-in-Chief Prince Alexander Golitsyn. The Russian Tsar Nicholas I wanted to reform the department. He asked Golitsyn to study postal systems of Prussia and Great Britain. Pryanishnikov knew English, and Golitsyn sent him abroad. Pryanishnikov did this task in May 1827 to June 1828. In Britain, he wished to get access to information about the Post Office service. His request was examined by the Post Office and Foreign Office and refused. Eventually, the Postmaster General met Pryanishnikov's request. On 14 November 1827, the Post Office notified the Foreign Office that Praynishnikov was allowed to get such information.

When Pryanishnikov came back to Russia, he wrote a detailed report. It included proposals for reforms. The report was given to a special committee. One of its members was Konstantin Bulgakov. After examination, the report and proposals were submitted to the Tsar. He approved them. In 1830, the postal reforms were started. In 1831, Pryanishnikov replaced Bulgakov as Director of St. Petersburg Post Office.

In 1842, Golitsyn gave up supervision of the Russian Postal Department. The Tsar replaced him with Count V. F. Adlerberg (1791–1884). Adlerberg was a close friend of the Tsar and one of his adjutants since 1817. Pryanishnikov was appointed as Director of the Postal Department. In 1852, Adlerberg was to become Minister of the Imperial Court. But he continued to head the Postal Department until 1857. Because of health reasons, Pryanishnikov had to give up work in 1854. However, he was asked in 1857 to take up the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Postal Department. He was directly subordinated to Nicholas' successor, Alexander II.

Feodor Pryanishnikov retired in 1863. He died four years later after a long illness.

Postal reforms

After Bulgakov's death, Pryanishnikov continued his work of improving the postal services. Town post was organised in St. Petersburg in 1835 followed by similar services in Moscow (in 1844) and other cities. In 1843, a uniform postage rate was introduced that equaled 10 silver kopecks for one lot. In 1845, the town posts began using stamped envelopes, and this innovation was extended throughout Russia in 1848. Mail boxes were introduced in 1848.

Under Pryanishnikov, the first Russia's postage stamp, with face value of 10 kopecks, went on sale to the public at the end of December 1857. The steamship services which had begun under Bulgakov were expanded. In 1838 Russia's first railway between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo was used for carrying mail. In 1851 the first special mail-coaches were introduced for service on the newly-opened railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow which also made use of the electric telegraph. A postal subscription service for newspapers and journals was also established. Post office buildings were modernized and there was a considerable expansion in the size of the department. Finally, Pryanishnikov signed postal treaties with Austria (1843), Greece (1848), Prussia (1843), and Sweden (1846).

Thus when Pryanishnikov retired in 1863 at the beginning of the reign of Alexander II the modernization of Russia's postal service was well under way. These developments were to continue for the rest of the century, but because of the deteriorating political situation within Russia during the late '60s and '70s the Postal Directorate was to cease to be independent and returned to the control of the Ministry of the Interior.

In 1824, shortly before his succession, another able official had joined the Postal Department; this was F. I. Pryanishnikov (1793-1867) who was ultimately to run the department on an equal footing with ministers.