| Ivan Osipovich Velio | |
| Native Name: | Иван Осипович Велио |
| Native Name: | instead.--> |
| Term Start: | August 17, 1880 |
| Term End: | April 12, 1881 |
| Term Start2: | June 21, 1868 |
| Term End2: | August 6, 1880 |
| Birth Date: | October 18, 1830 |
| Death Date: | February 11, 1899 (aged 68) |
| Spouse: | Maria Reitern |
| Education: | Alexander Lyceum |
| Awards: | is not set --> |
Baron Ivan Osipovich Velio (October 6, 1830 – January 30, 1899) was a Russian statesman, Active Privy Councillor (since January 1, 1891).
Born in Tsarskoye Selo, the son of the Tsarskoye Selo Commandant of the Cavalry General Osip Velio from his marriage to Ekaterina Albrecht. Paternal grandson of the court banker Osip Velio; on his mother was a descendant of Roman Bruce. From birth belonged to the Roman Catholic faith.
He was educated at the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. Upon completion of the course, in 1847, he entered the service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was the senior secretary at the missions in Dresden (since 1854) and Brussels (since 1858).
In the early 1860s, Velio returned to Russia and was soon appointed Kherson Vice–Governor (1861), then served as Bessarabian Governor (1862). In 1863, he was appointed Mayor of Odessa, and in 1865 – Governor of Simbirsk. He was elected an honorary citizen of Simbirsk.[1]
At the end of 1866, Velio was appointed Director of the Executive Police Department, in 1868 – Director of the Postal Department. For 12 years of his management of this department, significant changes have been made in the postal business. Renewing the service staff, Velio first of all established a daily reception and delivery of correspondence instead of the previous two times a week. Home delivery of urban correspondence, which was practiced only in Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw and Kazan, was introduced in all places where post offices existed. Auxiliary zemstvo posts were formed; in the Central Asian possessions – post offices on the Russian model. In Eastern Siberia, a postal service was arranged along the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, to Vladivostok and the Novgorod Post, on the Pacific Ocean. From 1868 to 1874, the carriage of mail was opened on 35 railway lines. The dispatch of mail in the provincial cities of European Russia was established daily, and in some even twice a day. Agreements were established with shipping companies along the Volga, Kama, Oka, Neman, Dnieper, Sheksna and other rivers. Detailed postal indexes and manuals were compiled; open letters, registered and valuable packages have been introduced.
In 1874, Velio, as a Russian representative, traveled to Bern for the first Universal Postal Congress, at which Russia joined the Universal Postal Union. In order to better organize the postal business, Velio personally visited the most remote points of the empire, for example, Turkestan and the Amur Region. In 1880, Velio was placed at the head of the newly formed Police Department, in 1881, he was appointed a senator, and on May 14, 1896, a member of the Council of State.
He died in 1899 and was buried in Saint Petersburg, possibly in the family vault at the Smolensk Evangelical Cemetery. According to Alexander Polovtsov, Baron Velio "was always impeccably honest, sought to introduce better practices and pursued abuses while managing the postal department; he was reproached only for a certain rudeness of forms in dealing with subordinates".[2] The name Veillot is repeatedly found in the letters and poems of Alexey Tolstoy; the poet resented him for perusing correspondence and ridiculed him for the poor work of the post office.
Wife – Maria Reitern (1851 – April 25,[3] 1918,[4] Petrograd), was her husband's maternal cousin niece; daughter of Lieutenant General Magnus Reitern. Married had children: