Pavel Alekseevich Rzhevsky, known in Russian jokes as "Lieutenant Rzhevsky", was born in 1784 in the Ryazan province into a noble family.
On May 31 [1] 1798 Rzhevsky was assigned to serve in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs and on October 3 of the same year he was appointed a translator. On January 1, 1801, he was granted a collegiate assessor [2].
At the beginning of 1802, Rzhevsky went into military service and, by the Imperial Order of January 12, 1802, entered the Semyonovsky Life Guards Regiment as a lieutenant. On August 15, 1803, Rzhevsky was appointed adjutant to General Depreradovich [3].
In 1805, Rzhevsky was part of the army that went on a campaign against the French troops [4], during which on November 20 he participated in the battle of Austerlitz and was awarded the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree.
Alleged portrait of Lieutenant Rzhevsky
Promoted to staff captains on March 29, 1806, Rzhevsky in 1807 was again on a campaign against the French [5] and on June 2, in the battle of Friedland, he was wounded by a bullet in the arm and buckshot in the chest. For the bravery shown in this battle, Rzhevsky on May 20, 1808 was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree with a bow.
Promoted to captain on August 17, 1808, on November 7 of the same year he was transferred to the Life Guards Hussar Regiment with the rank of "captain", and on January 6, 1809 he retired.
Officer of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment
Upon learning of the attack on Russia by the Napoleonic army in 1812, Rzhevsky applied for his appointment to the active army, and on July 20 he was re-hired with the rank of cavalry major and then attached to General Tuchkov 1st [6]. On August 26, Rzhevsky took part in the Battle of Borodino.
On August 28, he was assigned to the detachment of General Konovnitsyn [7], in which he was in the battles: September 22 - near Tarutino, October 6 - near the Chernyshka River and October 12 - near Maly Yaroslavl, where he was wounded by a bullet in his right arm. For military services, Rzhevsky was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 15, and on October 20 he was transferred to the detachment of General Ozharovsky [8] and took part in battles with him: on October 28 - near Chernov, on November 2 - during the attack of Krasny, where, commanding a Cossack regiment, the first to break into the city, 4 - at Kutkin, 5 - at the capture of Krasnoye, 10 - at the Yakovlevichi. December 31, 1812 Rzhevsky was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree.
On August 12, 1813, Rzhevsky entered the order of General Wittgenstein [9] and was with him from 13 to 16 August during the storming of Dresden, for which on August 16 he was awarded the Order of St. Anna 2nd degree with diamonds and the Prussian order “Pour le mérite”.
September 3, 1813 Rzhevsky took part in the battle at Golendorf, 5 at Kulm, October 4 at Wachau, Leberti and Volkwitz, 6 at Gulzhausen, 7 at the capture of Leipzig, 12 at Buttenstet. During the October battles, Rzhevsky was promoted to colonel.
In 1814, Rzhevsky fought in France: January 31 - at Nogent-sur-Seine, February 15 - at Bar-sur-Aub, 20 - at Labresseins, 21 - at the capture of Troyes, March 9 - at the capture of Arens, 13 - at Fer-Champenoise, 17 - under Gandhi and 18-19 - during the capture of Paris.
Rzhevsky's distinctions in battles in February 1814 were rewarded with the award of a golden saber with the inscription "For Bravery" and the military order of the Grand Duchy of Baden "Karl Friedrich", and for participation in the March battles - the Order of St. Vladimir 3rd degree.
On June 13, 1817, Rzhevsky was appointed commander of the Nizhny Novgorod infantry regiment, but on October 11 due to illness and wounds, according to a petition, he was dismissed from service with the right to wear a military uniform.
By the Imperial decree of August 22, 1826, Rzhevsky was granted the rank of chamberlain [10] and assigned to the department of the Kremlin Building Expedition, and on November 10, 1827, he became a collegiate advisor [11]. Upon the transformation of the Expedition of the Kremlin building into the Moscow Palace Office, Rzhevsky was removed from the state, and a month later, on November 24, 1831, he was appointed an official at special assignment at the Commission for the building in Moscow. On December 22, 1834, Rzhevsky was granted a state councilor [12].
On March 28, 1840, he joined the office of the Moscow military governor-general Golitsyn [13] as an official on special assignments. On August 21, 1841, Rzhevsky was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of public charity institutions [14] in Moscow, and on July 31, 1842, Rzhevsky was approved as a trustee of charitable uyezd institutions of the Moscow province. On August 13, 1842, the General Meeting of the Board of Trustees entrusted him with guardianship over the Podolsk, Serpukhov, Kolomna and Bronnitsk uyezd charitable institutions.
The actual state councilor died [15] P. A. Rzhevsky on January 30, 1852 in Moscow and was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.
