Since the autocracy considered Tolstoyism an enemy, Chertkov left for England in 1897.
He was an avid Anglophile like his mother, admired the English tradition of free speech, and was already corresponding with a small collective based at Purleigh in Essex, who were looking to put Tolstoy's ideas into practice.
It was to Purleigh, therefore, that Chertkov initially gravitated and it was here that he set up a publishing company, the Free Word Press (Russian: Свободное слово), producing Russian-language versions of Tolstoy's works and kindred literature, much of which was smuggled back into Russia.
A separate branch of this business, the Free Age Press, producing English-language texts, was set up in 1900.
Chertkov's wife, Anna Konstantinovna, born Dieterichs (1859–1927), was trustee of the Free Word Press and produced several texts for both arms of the business.

The Purleigh group began to split up towards the end of 1900, at which point Chertkov moved with his family and followers to Tuckton House, at Tuckton in Bournemouth, purchased for him by his mother.
The group used the defunct waterworks in nearby Iford Lane as their printing works, and continued to churn out Free Word and Free Age Press texts until July 1908, when most of the colony returned with Chertkov to Russia. (
The Tsar had granted a pardon to all political exiles three years previously.)
The Free Age Press continued to flourish, with a single member of the Tolstoy colony based at Tuckton House as translator and editor, until 1916.
There was, of course, less and less appetite for Tolstoy's mainly pacifist writings as Britain drifted into war.
Chertkov remained in Russia where, as Tolstoy's literary executor, he was editor-in-chief of one last project: a complete edition of Tolstoy's works in Russian, which ultimately extended to ninety volumes, and was still in motion when Chertkov died in Moscow, after a series of strokes, in 1936.
He is buried in Vvedenskoye Cemetery.
Since the autocracy considered Tolstoyism an enemy, Chertkov left for England in 1897. He was an avid Anglophile like his mother, admired the English tradition of free speech, and was already corresponding with a small collective based at Purleigh in Essex, who were looking to put Tolstoy's ideas into practice. It was to Purleigh, therefore, that Chertkov initially gravitated and it was here that he set up a publishing company, the Free Word Press (Russian: Свободное слово), producing Russian-language versions of Tolstoy's works and kindred literature, much of which was smuggled back into Russia. A separate branch of this business, the Free Age Press, producing English-language texts, was set up in 1900. Chertkov's wife, Anna Konstantinovna, born Dieterichs (1859–1927), was trustee of the Free Word Press and produced several texts for both arms of the business.
The Purleigh group began to split up towards the end of 1900, at which point Chertkov moved with his family and followers to Tuckton House, at Tuckton in Bournemouth, purchased for him by his mother. The group used the defunct waterworks in nearby Iford Lane as their printing works, and continued to churn out Free Word and Free Age Press texts until July 1908, when most of the colony returned with Chertkov to Russia. (The Tsar had granted a pardon to all political exiles three years previously.) The Free Age Press continued to flourish, with a single member of the Tolstoy colony based at Tuckton House as translator and editor, until 1916. There was, of course, less and less appetite for Tolstoy's mainly pacifist writings as Britain drifted into war. Chertkov remained in Russia where, as Tolstoy's literary executor, he was editor-in-chief of one last project: a complete edition of Tolstoy's works in Russian, which ultimately extended to ninety volumes, and was still in motion when Chertkov died in Moscow, after a series of strokes, in 1936. He is buried in Vvedenskoye Cemetery.
Vladimir Chertkov