Author Topic: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard  (Read 29153 times)

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Proud_Olga

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Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« on: March 13, 2010, 02:03:46 PM »
I checked and it seems there is no topic about Nicholas II's personal guard.

In fact, I know somebody who claims that her great-great-grand-father was in the personal guard of the Tsar. She has always wanted to know more about him, but her great grand mother doesn't want to tell her anything.
The only thing she knows is his name: Leon Zoubkof (I don't know if it can also be spelled as Zoubkov?) and that he was an officer.
There is no information about him over the web, so I thought that perhaps some of you have any informations about those who worked in Nicholas II's personal guard. I think it can be of great help.

I didn't want this topic to be about only one person, so you can post informations about the other officers working in the personal guard too. It can also be interesting...

Thank you.


Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2010, 07:59:55 PM »
The only thing she knows is his name: Leon Zoubkof (I don't know if it can also be spelled as Zoubkov?) and that he was an officer.
There is already a thread about the Zoubkoff family, whose most infamous member was Alexander Zoubkoff who made a shady marriage to Victoria, Princess Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe née Princess of Prussia (granddaughter of Queen Victoria) and later worked in a restaurant in Luxembourg which advertized with "Eat here and be served by the Kaiser's brother-in-law"!

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2010, 11:56:48 PM »
There were several "personal guards" regiments, so you have to first determine whether you are talking about the Tsar's personal Cossack guard regiment, his Secret Personal Police Guard Regiment, commanded by Spiridovitch, or his personal guard regiment made up of representatives from the major Guards.

there was not just one "personal guard regiment"

DanielB

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2010, 11:28:31 PM »
Depends of what people mean by « Personal Guard » of Nicholas II. Some things get lost in translation or get embellished with time and generations. Leon Zoubkov could have been an officer in one of the many Life-Guards regiments. The Russian name for the Imperial Guard « Leib-Gvardia » – derived from the German word Leib (Body) – would suggest that they were bodyguards. They did guard Imperial Palaces and provide sentry service inside palaces during earlier reigns. But after Alexander III left the capital, detachments from the regiments stationed in St. Petersburg were sent to the Winter Palace mainly for ceremonial occasions and were not considered as personal bodyguards. As F.A. has already written, the task of protecting the Emperor and his family was entrusted to a number of military and police units who were under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Imperial Court.

Since the assassination of Alexander II, the personal security of the Imperial Family had been reinforced and an elaborate security apparatus was put in place. After the 1905 Revolution, it was further strengthened by the addition of a new Life-Guards Cossack regiment and a new Service in charge of Imperial Security. In his memoirs, its first chief, General Alexander Spiridovich, writes about the various levels of security that protected the Emperor and his family in addition to the various Guards’ regiments who were garrisoned in St. Petersburg, Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof and Gatchina:

The Emperor’s personal safety was coordinated by the Palace Commandant. In order to protect the Emperor and the Imperial Family he had a force of a few thousand men from the following units:

-    His Majesty’s Own Cossack Escort (called « Konvoi » in Russian) which had 2 sotnias (squadrons) of Kuban Cossacks and 2 sotnias of Terek Cossacks ( a 5th mixed sotnia was raised during the War). Inside Palaces they would stand guard at staircases, elevators and doors leading to the Private Appartments. At night Cossacks manned sentry posts inside the Private Appartments and wore Caucasian boots with soft soles to avoid making noise. They also provided sentries around Imperial parks perimeters and patrolled palace grounds and parks on horseback. A small ceremonial detachment of Cossacks accompanied the Emperor when he attended military parades or travelled on the Imperial train. A half-sotnia was also assigned to guard the Dowager Empress at the Anichkov and Gatchina Palaces (also in Kiev during the War).

-   His Majesty’s Own Combined Infantry Battalion (later a Regiment) which comprised men detached from various units of the Guard and Line (Army) regiments who had imperial colonel-in-chiefs : it manned sentry posts inside the Palace, guarded entrances, corridors and service rooms. In Tsarskoe Selo it also provided sentry posts outside the Palace Park perimeter;

-   The Palace Police : in Tsarskoe Selo, its agents reinforced the sentry posts at Palace Gates, kept a register of all people living in or entering the Palace, had the Court servants under surveillance, guarded the Catherine Palace Park and the streets close to the Palaces;

-   His Majesty’s Own Railway Battalion (later a Regiment) : it was assigned to guard the special Imperial railway line between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. When  the Emperor travelled elsewhere by train, they provided security along the route and aboard the imperial trains;

-   The Imperial Security Service (established in 1906): its 300 agents were in charge of protecting the Emperor and his family whenever they went left the Palace grounds. They also were in charge of protecting Dowager Empress Maria and the Emperor’s brother G. D. Michael when they travelled.

In 1906 a new Guards’ Cossack Regiment was raised (the Combined-Cossack Guards’ Regiment). One of its tasks was to reinforce the security apparatus. Its 1st sotnia was based near the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg (where the Dowager Empress lived ). Another sotnia was sent to Gatchina and 2 sotnias were sent to guard the Park and Palace at Pavlovsk.

I suppose anyone from these military or police units could claim to be a member of the Emperor’s « Personal Guard » but when people talk about the Emperor’s Bodyguard, they usually refer to his Cossack Escort which doesn’t mean Leon Zubkov (Lev Zubkov in Russian) was one of its officer. I would suggest you post something in the « Russian Imperial Medals, Orders, Uniforms & Militaria » section as some forum members are quite good at digging up military records and may be able to help you.

Proud_Olga

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2010, 03:07:19 PM »
Quote
There were several "personal guards" regiments, so you have to first determine whether you are talking about the Tsar's personal Cossack guard regiment, his Secret Personal Police Guard Regiment, commanded by Spiridovitch, or his personal guard regiment made up of representatives from the major Guards.

there was not just one "personal guard regiment"

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that at all.

Quote
I suppose anyone from these military or police units could claim to be a member of the Emperor’s « Personal Guard » but when people talk about the Emperor’s Bodyguard, they usually refer to his Cossack Escort which doesn’t mean Leon Zubkov (Lev Zubkov in Russian) was one of its officer. I would suggest you post something in the « Russian Imperial Medals, Orders, Uniforms & Militaria » section as some forum members are quite good at digging up military records and may be able to help you.

The problem is that my friend has only his name, and naively I had supposed it was enough.
Thank you all of you for your informations. I'll tell her. :)

Offline yussupov29

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2010, 09:59:35 AM »
I wonder what happened to all these soldiers during the Revolution? Did they die in WWI? As far as I know many of them were from noble families. Didn't they try to defend Zarskoje Selo?

historian

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2010, 02:49:45 PM »
I have a picture of a heavily decorated officer who was in the imperial guard. He is dressed in the traditional winter uniform of the his majesty's personal guard, Hussar division. I am trying to find out if any of you know who this person is and what medals he is wearing.  I am new to internet forum use and I don't know how to upload the picture to the site. Any help would be gratly appreciated.

Naslednik Norvezhskiy

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2010, 02:53:55 PM »
Quote from: historian
I am new to internet forum use and I don't know how to upload the picture to the site. Any help would be gratly appreciated.

Here is a thread to help you: How to post photographs
« Last Edit: April 24, 2010, 02:55:52 PM by Fyodor Petrovich »

historian

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #8 on: April 26, 2010, 04:04:00 PM »

historian

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2010, 04:29:45 PM »
[img]http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/slnlinc

Nicola De Valeron

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2010, 05:43:34 PM »


Historian,

Firstly, judging by the photo of this man he is far away from the Officer's rank, he is a Lance-corporal or Junior NCO. Most likely of the Hussar's of HIM Regiment. He is wearing here a common Hussar's cloak. From the all Orders I can see only the St. George Cross, which was intended to lower ranks. Others are medals.

Secondly, I think that you are slightly off-topic. If you want, you can post it in a more appropriate thread: Russian uniform, medals and so on...

historian

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2010, 11:37:21 AM »
Thank you for your help.  I'll move it to the uniform and medals thread to try and get more information on this person.

mdezwart

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Re: Tsar Nicholas II's personal guard
« Reply #12 on: June 14, 2017, 02:16:59 PM »
I have been looking into my family history for a while now. There always was this story of an ancestors that worked for the Russian Tsar, which granted him nobility. The exact details were not clear...until recently. I got in contact with a distant relative who told me she once had a silver watch in her possession, which belonged to the ancestors who guarded Nicolas II. This is what she knew about him:

"My great-grandfather in Tsarskoe Selo in 1905 participated in the parade and Nicholas 2 gave him a
silver watch with engraving. Half the inscription is not readable, including the surname.
For a long time we were sure that it was written "Esaulu Semenovskogo Regiment",
but the captain is a Cossack title and, most likely, it was written "Esaul Ataman Regiment"

I wonder if I can found out more about this ancestors...