This book offers a unique and fascinating investigation into the lives and careers of the British in eighteenth-century Russia and, more specifically, into the development of a vibrant British community in St Petersburg during the city's first century of existence as the new capital of an ever-expanding Russian empire. Based on an extremely wide use of primary sources, particularly archival, from Britain and Russia, the book concentrates on the activities of the British within various fields such as commerce, the navy, the medical profession, science and technology and the arts, and ends with a broad survey of travellers and of travel accounts, many of them completely unknown. Also included are many attractive and unusual illustrations which help demonstrate the variety and character of Russia's British community.

List of illustrations; Note on Russian dates; Preface; Introduction; 1. The colony by the banks of the Neva; 2. Factory matters and 'the honourable of the Earth'; 3. 'In Anglorum templo': the English Church and its chaplains; 4. 'Doctors are scarce and generally Scotch'; 5. 'Sur le pied anglais': shipbuilders and officers in the Russian navy; 6. 'Necessary foreigners': specialists and craftsmen in Russian service; 7. Masters of the Arts; 8. 'Out of curiosity': tourists and visitors; Epilogue; Notes; Index.