Devier, Anton Manuilovich

There is no exact data on the place and time of his birth. According to some sources, he was born in Portugal in 1673 or 1674. According to other sources, he was born in 1682 in Amsterdam into a poor Jewish family who moved to Holland from Portugal. (The latest version is considered more reasoned). After the death of his father, the young man entered the Dutch fleet. In 1697, as a young man, he was brought by Peter I to Russia, to whose service he devoted his whole life.

In July 1708 - captain , in the fall of that year he was promoted to major , and a little later - to lieutenant colonel of the grenadier regiment. On August 3 ( 14 ), 1711 , he was granted, along with Pavel Yaguzhinsky, the rank of Adjutant General ^[1] , established especially for them.

Devier was in love with Menshikov's older sister, Anna Danilovna. Menshikov did not like Deviera, and when he asked for his sister’s hands (Anna was already waiting for the first-born), he got very angry and beat Deviera. Devier complained to Peter I and he ordered Menshikov to give his sister to marry Devier. The wedding took place in July 1712.

On November 12, 1715, Peter sent Deviera to Revel to supervise the construction of the seaport.

On May 27 ( June 7 ), 1718 he was appointed the first St. Petersburg police general ^[2] , was in charge of all issues of urban economy.

Devier formally subordinated to the Senate and Governor General Menshikov , but in fact to Peter himself. Initially, the police staff consisted of a deputy police general, 4 officers and 36 lower ranks. The clerk and ten clerks conducted office work in the Main Police Chancellery. The new structure not only kept order in the city, but also performed a number of economic functions, was engaged in the improvement of the city - paving streets, draining marshy places, cleaning garbage, etc. Through the efforts of Deviera in 1721, the first lanterns and benches were placed in the capital . A fire service was organized. In addition, the police had judicial powers and the ability to impose penalties in criminal matters.

In June 1718, Devier participated in the investigation in the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich , along with others signed the death sentence.

On January 6, 1725, Devier was promoted to major general . After the death of Peter I, he actively advocated the transfer of power to Empress Catherine I. May 21, 1725 awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky. On October 24, 1726, he was elevated to count , on December 27 of the same year he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general .

In 1727, on behalf of the empress, he traveled to Courland , which was caused by complaints from the Courland against Menshikov, who was trying to take over the ducal throne. The report to the empress was not in favor of Menshikov. Later that year, Devier actively opposed Menshikov’s intentions to marry his daughter Maria as heir to the throne, Pyotr Alekseevich . This episode further aggravated Menshikov’s hostility to his son-in-law, and on April 24, 1727, in the presence of the "brightest" Devier, he was taken under guard. By decree of May 27, 1727, he was charged with the intention to remove from the inheritance of the throne of Peter II and in attempts to prevent the fulfillment of the spiritual testament of Empress Catherine I, deprived of the nobility and title , ranks , estates , beaten with a whip and exiled to Siberia .

In St. Petersburg, Devier owned a site on the banks of the Nameless Eric (now the Fontanka River), on which Anichkov Palace is now located. After the arrest of Deviera in 1727, the plot was confiscated. Wife of Deviera with her children was ordered to "live in her villages where she wishes." Anna Danilovna chose the villages of Torkhovo, Tula district and Povetkino, Venevsky district . She was buried in the crypt of the village of Povetkino . The estates passed into the possession of the eldest son - Peter Antonovich .

Devier spent twelve years in the Zhiganovsky winter hut, 800 miles from Yakutsk . Initially, the company was made up of the former commandant of St. Petersburg, Grigory Skornyakov-Pisarev , who was appointed in 1731 due to a lack of competent specialists at hand to assemble yasak in Okhotsk .

However, complaints from local residents constantly went to Skornyakov, and in the end, Empress Anna Ioannovna decided to replace him with “a good and conscientious person.” Devira was considered a suitable candidate. April 13, 1739 he was appointed head of the port of Okhotsk. Having described and sold the property of his predecessor, Devier paid the garrison the salary that he owed for several years. With energetic actions, he completed the equipment of the Second Kamchatka Expedition of Bering , completed the construction of the Port of Okhotsk and founded the school, which later turned into the Naval School of the Siberian Flotilla. December 1, 1741 followed by a personal decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna on the release of Devier from the link "with the remission of guilt." The decree came to Okhotsk in June 1742, and at the beginning of the next year Devier arrived in Petersburg. By the highest decree of February 14, 1743, Devier was returned the order and the count's title, as well as an estate in the Valuysky district of the Belgorod province with 1,600 peasants.

On July 15, 1744, Devier was promoted to general-anshefa , and on December 17, 1744 he was reappointed general police chief of St. Petersburg . However, old age and difficult trials made many diseases known. April 24, 1745 sick Devier retired "until recovery." But recovery did not come. On June 24 (July 5), 1745, he died and was buried three days later at the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (the grave was not preserved).

• One of the characters in the historical novel by D. Markish "Peter the Great Jew"
• The story of Anton Devier’s acquaintance with Peter I is described in the adventurous and historical novel by Count Salias de Turnemira E. A. “Don Gishpants”. The story itself is dedicated to the great-grandchildren of Anton Devier.

• May 18, 2018 in St. Petersburg in Zvenigorod Square near house 79 on Marata Street , where the 28th police department is located, a bust of Anton Deviera was installed ^[3] .
• On March 15, 2018, the Bank of Russia issued a commemorative gold coin with a face value of 50 rubles dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the Russian police, which depicts a portrait of Anton Devier.
• May 25, 2018 in the village of Okhotsk, Khabarovsk Territory, a memorial plaque was opened on the police building ^[4] .

• Divier, Anton Manuilovich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Shubinsky S. N. Diviere, Anton Manuilovich // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

• Voronezh branch of the Earl family of Deviers
• Devier A. M. Letters and extracts from letters from St. Petersburg police general Devier to Prince A. D. Menshikov. 1719-1727 / Commun. M. A. Obolensky // Russian Archive, 1865. - Ed. 2nd. - M., 1866. - St. 273-318.
• Kosheleva O. “The police are the soul of citizenship”
• P. Devier’s case // Historical Bulletin, 1888. - V. 33. - No. 9. - P. 626-638.
• The first police officer of Russia / D. Mityurin / Nevskoe Vremya, January 21, 2003 (inaccessible link) ( the same article, with additions, in the magazine "Miracles and Adventures", No. 10/2005 (inaccessible link) )
• Sgibnev A.S. Skornyakov-Pisarev and Dever in Siberia. 1727-1743. // Russian antiquity, 1876. - T, 15. - No. 2. - S. 444-450.