Billets

Categories / Army. Navy/Military Ceremonies, Life, and Service
BILLETS, system of quartering of troops in private households. In St. Petersburg billeting was practised from the very foundation of the city until 1906, resorted to due to an absence or lack of barracks. All household owners ought to provide billeting (except for the members of the emperor's family, foreign diplomats and supreme church hierarchs), who were obliged to provide billets with free lodging, heating and lighting. Organisation of billeting rested with the police, from 1872 - with the city governing authorities. From 2 to 25 soldiers were billeted to each household, depending on its size, for a term of 7 to 18 months. Householders discharged billeting obligations in turns, usually with two years intervals. In the 18th century some guards regiments and garrison troops went into billets, from 1823 this concerned army regiments and sub-divisions of internal guards, as well as troops, temporarily stationed in St. Petersburg.

Reference: Столетие Военного министерства. СПб., 1907. Т. 3, кн. 2. Отд. 7.

G. V. Kalashnikov. Столетие Военного министерства. СПб., 1907