Notes

Sergei de Wesselitsky Bojidarovitch 1805—1866

Sergei was born on the family estate at Kieff in the Ukraine.

Of noble family, his education was in the exclusive Corps of Pages school of the Emperor of All The Russias .

Sergei made his career in the Russian Army and received a commission during his teens as was the custom.

Sergel married Marie de Zouieff whose family owned land sat Toula,about160 miles south-east of Moscow.

He took part in the Turko-Russian war of 1828 —1829.

During the Hungarian campaign of 1849,when Sergei was a Colonel, he was presented with a Sword of Honour by the Burgesses of an Hungarian town. This was in gratitude for having prevented his troops from plundering their property. The Coats of Arms of the Russian Empire and of Hungary were engraved on the sword.

For his military services in 1863 and 1854, Sergei was presented with two Swords of Honour."For Valour"was engrave don the blades of each. The later one had a straight blade of Toledo steel. Toledo in Spain was famous from earliest times for the quality of its steel goods and of fine sword blades in particular. Toledo was the ancient capital of Spain.

For much of his life Sergei had only one arm.

At the age of 30 years his right arm, repeatedly wounded during war, had to be amputated. He taught himself to write with his left hand.

Among his decorations was the Order of St. George of Russia (the nearest equivalent of the Victoria Cross of Great Britain ).

Sergei took part in the Crimean War of 1854 — 1856 against Great Britain and France and reached the rank of Lieut. General.

During the defence of Savastapol(Sebastopol) — the town of Sebastian—he saw a brother officer badly wounded lying in a trench. Despite the shell fire he went to his rescue, picked him up with his left arm and carried him to a place of safety.

That friend whom he saved was later to become Russian Ambassador to Austria Hungary.

For many years Sergei commanded a crack infantry regiment known as the Finland Guards which formed part of the Russian Imperial Guards, mainly in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg.

His death was caused by drinking a quantity of Kvass (ice cold cider) immediately following a steam bath.

The family owned a house in Paris near to the Place d'Etoileas well as one in St Petersburg.

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