Matthew Shiffner

Matthew Shiffner was a Russian-born merchant, of German Baltic origins who He became a naturalized British citizen in 1711. He was a member of the Muscovy Company and become a major exporter of Russian goods to Britain in the 1730s.

Matthew became a naturalized English Citizen in 1711 and shortly afterwards he joined the Muscovy Company. Matthew’s success is probably much owned to his wife Agnata Brewer, who was a gouvernante to Anne, Dutchess of Courland, and later the empress of Russia from 1730 till 1740. In this period the firm Shiffner & Wolff, in ownership of Shiffner and his business partner Jacob Wolff, became the most successful firm among the British in trade with Russia.

Shiffner & Wolff was granted a series of contracts for crown products – goods such as hemp, potash, tallow and pitch which were, at different times, a monopoly of the state. In 1730, the firm contracted for 1,500 barrels of potash and considerable amounts of rhubarb, hemp, glue, and codfish. The firm was also contracted to ship out 3600 tons of Siberian iron over a five year period. From 1735 Shiffner & Wolff was the principal conduit for the export of rhubarb, then the most prized commodity throughout Europe. As importers into Russia, the firm had a contract with the Admirality College in 1732 to supply between 80000 and 100000 yards of British woolen cloth annually for a period of three years.

The firm’s prominence ended with the death of Empress Anne in 1740. Shiffner continued to trade from London with the Baltic region until his death in 1759, after what the family business was taken over by his sons, Henry and John.