Khalansky, Ivan

Khalansky, Ivan [Халанський, Іван; Xalans'kyj], b 1749 in Khalan, Slobidska Ukraine, d ca 1825 in Novhorod-Siverskyi, Chernihiv gubernia. Cultural figure and organizer of education, a member of the Novhorod-Siverskyi patriotic circle. After serving in the imperial bureaucracy in Saint Petersburg (from 1774), in 1778 he entered military service, becoming quartermaster (1780) and then captain (1782) of a Ukrainian Hussar regiment. He became the procurator first of the Novhorod-Siverskyi Upper Court in 1784 and then of the Upper Lord Court (1790–5). From 1789 Khalansky devoted himself to the cause of public education in Novhorod-Siverskyi, Starodub, Hlukhiv, and Chernihiv, introducing many reforms in educational practices. In 1805 he founded and became the first director of Novhorod-Siverskyi Gymnasium.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1988).]