Finlyandsky Life Guards Regiment

Categories / Army. Navy/Garrison
FINLYANDSKY LIFE-GUARDS REGIMENT, was raised in December 1806 in Strelna and Peterhof as the Imperial Militia Battalion (recruited from state and court serfs, predominantly of the Finnish origin, hence the name). On 22.1.1808 assigned to the Guards and named the Imperial Life-Guards Militia Battalion. On 8.4.1808 renamed the Finlyandsky (Finnish) Life Guards Battalion, on 19 October 1811 re-organised into three battalions and named the Finlyandsky Life Guards Regiment. Participated in the wars with France (1806-07 and 1812-14), Turkey (1828-29 and 1877-78), and in suppressing the Polish Uprising of 1830-31. During WW I the regiment as a contingent the 2nd Guards Division was dispatched to the Northwestern front. The reserve battalion stationed in Petrograd in the summer 1917 was re-formed into the Finlyandsky (Finnish) Guards Reserve Regiment. In October 1917 the regiment took part in the capture of the Winter Palace, later guarded the Sestroretsk Armoury, and at the time of the offensive of Kerensky and Krasnov occupied Gatchina. In February 1918 the reserve regiment almost in its full complement was incorporated into the Red Army, and the main Finlyandsky Regiment was disbanded. Originally, the battalion along with the Garrison Life Guards Battalion were quartered at the Pernovskie Quarters on the Vasilievsky Island, where by the autumn of 1808 new barracks were built (between the 19th and the 20th Lines of the Vasilievsky Island, the Bolshaya Neva and Bolshoy Avenue of the Vasilievsky Island). The construction was carried out under the guidance of architect A.N. Voronikhin. In 1817-19 officer barracks and a number of outbuildings were built in the same place (architect A.E. Staubert). The regiment's chapel, the St. Spiridon of Trimifunt Church, was located in the building of the regimental hospital (65 Bolshoy Avenue of the Vasilievsky Island), on the 2nd floor.

References: Гулевич С. А. История Лейб-гвардии Финляндского полка,1806-1906 гг.: В 5 ч. СПб., 1906-1909; Антонов Б. И. Императорская гвардия в Санкт-Петербурге. СПб., 2001.

A. N. Lukirsky. Shtaubert Alexander Egorovich
Voronikhin Andrey Nikiforovich
19th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city
20th Line of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Bolshoy Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Bolshoy Ave of Vasilievsky Island/Saint Petersburg, city, house 65
Гулевич С. А. История Лейб-гвардии Финляндского полка,1806-1906 гг.: В 5 ч. СПб., 1906-1909
Антонов Б. И. Императорская гвардия в Санкт-Петербурге. СПб., 2001 Winter Palace
Sestroretsk Instrumentation Plant
1811