Johan Mauritz Nordenstam

Baron Johan Mauritz Nordenstam (21 September 1802 – 8 June 1882) was a Finnish general who served as Vice Chairman of the Economic Division of the Senate of Finland, an office preceding that of Prime Minister, from 1858 to his death in 1882.

He briefly served as acting Governor-General five times, and was Lord Marshal (speaker) at the first three sessions of the Diet of Finland following 54 years without an assembly.

After going to a gymnasium in St. Petersburg, Nordenstam enrolled in Hamina Cadet School, graduated at the top of his class in 1823 and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the Imperial Russian Army.

[2] He was appointed as Vice Chairman of the Economic Division of the Senate of Finland in 1858, succeeding Lars Gabriel von Haartman.

A high rank in its own right, it additionally entitled him to serve as acting Governor-General of Finland, the highest authority in the land and representative of the Emperor, which he did on several occasions; for months at a time, he was responsible for the duties of Governor-Generals Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg (1861), Platon Rokassovsky (1864) and Nikolay Adlerberg (1868, 1870, 1872–73).

Johan Mauritz Nordenstam, painted by Konstantin Makovsky in 1865.
Nordenstam in uniform and with a Lord Marshal's staff of office in 1864.