Alexandre Remi

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Alexandre Gavrilovich Remi Russian: Реми, Александр Гаврилович (1807-1871) was a Russian mayor-general, brother officer of Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov.

Alexandre Remi was born in 1807 in the city of Saint Petersburg into a Russian noble family Remi (family) of Swiss descent. The ancestors of Remi came to Russia in 1787, when the officer Jean-Gabriel Remi entered the Engineering Corps in Saint Petersburg.

Remi began his military service in cavalry in 1826. Until 1835 he served at the 1st Bugsk uhlan regiment, later captain of cavalry at the uhlan regiment in Saint Petersburg, brother officer of Mikhail Lermontov. Alexandre Remi was appointed officer for special commissions at the headquarters of General Khomutov at Don Cossack Voisko and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in April, 1840. Remi left for Novocherkassk in May, 1840, meeting in Moscow his friend Mikhail Lermontov who was heading Caucasus for exile. They made the way to Novocherkassk together, also making a stop in Taganrog at the house of Remi's relatives. The cigar-case presented to Remi by Lermontov may be viewed at the Tarkhany museum (музей-заповедник «Тарханы»).

Alexandre Remi participated in several wars and was decorated with Order of St. Stanislaus of 2nd degree, Order of St. Vladimir of 1st degree (with a ribbon), Order of St.Anna of 3 degree (with ribbon), and a silver medal for courage. On the 25th anniversary of his military service, Remi was awarded with an Order of St. George of 4th degree. In 1868, he was promoted to the rank of mayor-general. After resignation, the general received several lands in Don Voisko Province (one of the villages was later named Removka). Alexandre Remi settled in Taganrog, where he acquired several houses, including the mansion of the former Taganrog's governor Pyotr Papkov on Malaya Birzhevaya Ulitsa (now Ulitsa Schmidta). Remi took an active part in the city affairs: he was member of the committee for the construction of Taganrog Theatre and of the Charity society. He died in 1871 in a train accident near Novocherkassk.

The mansion of Alexandre Remi housed the newly married couple of Pavel Chekhov and Yevgeniya Chekhova, the parents of Russian writer Anton Chekhov, who rented one of the rooms in 1854-1855. This gave Anton Chekhov the motif for his story "The House with an Attic" in 1896.