Russian White Gallery

Helena Blavatsky, Russian author and founder of Theosophy, 1889

Helena Blavatsky, Russian author and founder of Theosophy, 1889. Helena Blavatsky, Russian author and founder of Theosophy, 1889. Helena Blavatsky (nee Hahn) (1831-1891) emigrated from Russia to New York in 1873. Two years later she co-founded the Theosophical Society with Henry Olcott and William Quan Judge. Theosophy is a mystical religious doctrine that postulates that all religions are attempts by a Spiritual Hierarchy to assist humanity to evolve to a state of greater perfection, and that each individual religion therefore posseses a part of the overall truth

© Fine Art Images

Russian Soldiers - Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

Harbin, China - the largest city of Heilongjiang Province - Russian Troops. In the territory which was formerly Northern Manchuria and which was heavily populated by Russians as well as Chinese. Almost a Wild West town with transient populations and shifting spheres of demographic influence. Many self-exiled Civil War White Russians ended up living in Harbin. During the Russo-Japanese War - the exact date of this card), Russia used Harbin as its base for military operations in Northeastern China. Following the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway (financed by the Russian Empire), the Russians selected Harbin as the base of their administration over this railway and the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone. The Chinese Eastern Railway extended the Trans-Siberian Railway: substantially reducing the distance from Chita to Vladivostok and also linking the new port city of Dalny (Dalian) and the Russian Naval Base Port Arthur (Lushun). Date: 1905

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Russian royal group at Krasnoe Selo in 1892

Three generations of Russian royalty at the military settlement of Krasnoe Selo in 1892, gathered for the summer manoeuvres. (Front row, seated) Grand Princess Ksenia (or Xenia - Alexander III's daughter), Maria Pavlovna (wife of Grand Prince Vladimir), her daughter Elena Vladimirovna, Grand Princess Alexandra Iosifovna (widow of Grand Prince Konstantin Nikoaevich), Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna, Alexander III, Grand Princes Mikhail Nikoaevich (the Tsar's youngest uncle) and Pavel Alexandrovich (the Tsar's youngest brother). (Immediately behind) Dukes Carl-Michael and Georg of Mecklenburg Strelitz (great-grandsons of Tsar Paul), Grand Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, his sister Princess Olga, Queen of the Hellenes, Tsesarevich Nicholas (later Nicholas II), Grand Princes Vladmir Alexandrovich and Dmitri Konstantinovich (in the white hat), Duke Peter of Oldenburg (a great-great-grandson of Tsar Paul on his father's side, and on his mother's a great grandson of Nicholas I) and Duke Georgi of Leuchtenberg (a great-grandson of Nicholas I). (Back row) Grand Princes Sergei Mikhailovich and Nikolai Nikolaevich the younger, Duke Alexander of Oldenburg (Duke Peter's father peering over the shoulder of Grand Prince Dmitri). The boys in front are Alexei Mikhailovich, the youngest of the Mikhailovichi, who died of tuberculosis at the age of nineteen, Mikhail Alexandrovich (Alexander III's son) and brothers Andrei and Boris Vladimirovich (Grand Prince Vladimir's sons)

© Mary Evans Picture Library/CHARLOTTE ZEEPVAT