On January 25, 1971, after a serious and prolonged illness, a prominent historian, a leading expert on the agrarian history of modern times, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Mikhailovich Lavrovsky died. One of those Soviet scientists, whose works created the national school of agrarian history of England, which rightfully won international recognition, has passed away.

V. M. Lavrovsky was born in Pskov on July 5, 1891. In 1910, he began studying at the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow State University. His mentors were such scientists and teachers as D. M. Petrushevsky, R. Y. Vipper and A. N. Savin. The future historian diligently studied the folios of the English lawyer of the XVII century. Coca and descriptions of English counties written by eighteenth-century agronomists, a constitutional history of England. Already on the student's bench, the features of Vladimir Mikhailovich were revealed, which he carried through his entire life as a researcher and talented teacher. The essay "Farming in Norfolk in the XVIII century" served as the basis for leaving V. M. Lavrovsky at the university to prepare for the professorship. In 1919, he began teaching at the university, which continued with short interruptions until 1966.

Vladimir Mikhailovich's year - long work in the London Public Archive revealed for him a unique wealth of "Sentences of Parliamentary Enclosures" - the most valuable source on the history of the decisive stage of the process of land dispossession of the English peasantry. Based on the analysis of these sources, the study "Parliamentary enclosures in England in the XVIII-early XIX centuries "(1940) was a major achievement of Soviet historical science. In recent years, it has been continued by Vladimir Mikhailovich (based on additional sources) in the works "Problems of land ownership research in England of the XVII-XVIII centuries" (1958) and "Research on the agrarian history of England of the XVII-XVIII centuries" (1966). These works are distinguished by a broad statement of problems, subtle, meticulous analysis, reveal the author's great erudition and serve as confirmation of the inviolability of the Marxian concept of the process of so-called initial accumulation in England. The second major topic in Vladimir Mikhailovich's scientific work was the English bourgeois revolution of the mid-17th century. The cycle of his works on this issue is very well known to specialists.

V. M. Lavrovsky was not only a major researcher, but also a tireless teacher. For many generations of historians, its general and special courses, special seminars have become a school of historical thinking and research skills. Dozens of candidates and a considerable number of doctors of sciences came out of it, who will always keep gratitude and love for their teacher. His spiritual integrity and purity, boundless benevolence and openness, hard work, optimism and selflessness earned him the love and respect of all who communicated with him. Just as he was able to promote and enjoy the success of others, just as he fervently supported all true creativity, so he was merciless to those who loved not science, but themselves in science. Vladimir Mikhailovich Lavrovsky retained his passion for life and the versatility of his interests until his last breath. In recent years, he was particularly excited and inspired by the possibilities of applying mathematical methods in historical research. Work on the great work he had planned in this area was interrupted by the death of the scientist. It is the duty of his students and successors to complete the research he has begun.

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