Matthew Guthrie was a Scottish physician, mineralogist and traveller who rose to be councillor to the Russian royal family.
14 Facts About Matthew Guthrie
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Matthew Guthrie made extensive studies of Russian history and folklore, and did much to foster international relationships between Russia and Scotland and promote Russian culture.
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Matthew Guthrie was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
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Matthew Guthrie was a friend of John Howard who had visited Russia.
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Matthew Guthrie was born in Edinburgh in 1743, son of Henry Guthrie, 9th Baron Haukerton and Rachel, and grandson of Rev Gideon Guthrie of Fetteresso and later Bishop of Brechin.
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Matthew Guthrie's father abandoned his title as Baron in 1747 following the Jacobite Rising of 1745 to avoid ill-feeling.
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Matthew Guthrie's father remarried, to Elizabeth Tytler of Woodhouselee, younger sister of William Tytler.
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John Howard 8.
Matthew Guthrie matriculated in 1764, there is no record of his graduation.
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Matthew Guthrie does appear to have trained as a surgeon.
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Matthew Guthrie went to Russia in 1769 and stayed there for most of his life.
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Matthew Guthrie was granted an MD in Saint Petersburg in 1776.
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Matthew Guthrie later became a personal Councillor to both Tsar Alexander I and his wife, Empress Elizabeth.
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Matthew Guthrie died in Saint Petersburg, Russia on 30 August 1807.
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Matthew Guthrie had previously directed a convent school responsible for educating the female nobility of Russia.