The Wrangel family is known worldwide, with a history spanning hundreds of years, serving two great powers. Several generations of Wrangels were loyal defenders of the Russian Empire, and besides military service, many members of this illustrious family worked for the good of their homeland in various civil positions.

Nikolai Yegorovich Wrangel was born on July 6, 1847, in the Yamburg district of St. Petersburg province. He was a successful entrepreneur, the son of the district noble leader Yegor Yermolaevich Wrangel, and the father of Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, a prominent Russian general, the first holder of the Order of St. George during World War I, and one of the most well-known leaders of the White movement.

Nikolai was the youngest child in the happy marriage of Baron Wrangel and Baroness Darya Alexandrovna Raush von Traubenberg, a descendant of Peter the Great's Hannibal, making him a relative of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. Nikolai received an excellent education, including in Switzerland and Germany, where he graduated from Göttingen University in 1868.

After completing his studies, the young baron returned to Russia and took a position as an official for special assignments in Lithuania and Poland. Later, he resigned and, following family traditions, decided to start a military career. After six months of service in the Cavalry Regiment, Nikolai Yegorovich was to receive an officer's rank, but changes in the status of cadets forced him to wait two years. This compelled Wrangel to resign from military service, as he was no longer young and it was time for him to start a family.

After his resignation, Nikolai Wrangel engaged in business and initially worked in the Russian Society of Steam Navigation and Trade. He proved himself to be a talented entrepreneur and rose to positions as chairman and member of the boards of directors of major joint-stock companies involved in gold mining, oil extraction, and other activities. In 1877, Wrangel married Maria Dmitrievna Dementyeva-Maikova, who bore him three sons. Soon, the Wrangel family moved to Rostov-on-Don, where in 1890 they acquired a house that became historically known as the Wrangel house.

In Rostov-on-Don, Nikolai Yegorovich actively engaged in entrepreneurial activities and charity, serving on the board of trustees of the House of Labor, which was opened with the permission of Nicholas II. The emperor himself drafted and signed the charter of this charitable enterprise.

In the 1890s, Nikolai Yegorovich faced tragedy when his youngest son, 10-year-old Vsevolod, passed away, after which in 1895 the family decided to move to St. Petersburg. In the capital, Nikolai Yegorovich became close to banker Adolf Rothstein and Finance Minister Sergey Witte, who became his friends and supported his enterprises. Wrangel was a member of the board of the largest international German company Siemens & Halske and was also the chairman of the board of the Russian Gold Mining Society. Among the high society, he was known as a collector and connoisseur of art.

During World War I, his eldest son Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel was the first officer to be awarded the Order of St. George 4th class, while his son Nikolai served as a nurse in a military medical train and died of illness, which was a severe blow to the family.

Both revolutions of 1917 found Nikolai Yegorovich Wrangel in Petrograd. After the Bolsheviks came to power, hunger and looting began, and he was forced to sell most of his collection for a pittance.

Although he was not afraid of retribution, the Bolsheviks demanded the impossible from him. They placed the old baron in charge of providing for the workers at the gold mines of his society, even though they had long abandoned their work, and it was impossible to send them funds. After receiving threats of severe punishment, at the end of 1918, Wrangel decided to flee the country. Paying an 'entrepreneur,' he managed to board a train with German wounded soldiers and, disguised as mentally ill, reached Germany. His wife narrowly escaped death in Bolshevik-occupied Petrograd but was able to leave and reunite with her husband only two years later.

In exile, the couple lived with the family of their only surviving son, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and leader of the anti-Bolshevik resistance Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel. Unfortunately, their life together after many years of separation turned out to be very short; in the summer of 1923, Nikolai Yegorovich passed away in the Serbian town of Sremski Karlovci and was buried there. A year after his death, his unique memoirs 'Memories: From Serfdom to the Bolsheviks' were published, in which he described the horrors of Bolshevism and gave an honest assessment of his contemporaries.

Today, in Rostov-on-Don, the house where the Wrangel family lived has been preserved, and his son, Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, is remembered worldwide as a hero and leader of the anti-Bolshevik resistance. Additionally, three buildings of the House of Labor complex, a charitable institution to which Nikolai Yegorovich Wrangel owed much, have survived in Rostov-on-Don.