Alexander cadet corps for minors

After the abolition of the Noble boarding house at Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, its building was occupied by the Alexander Cadet Corps for Young Children, which was created to prepare young children and sons of honored soldiers of noble origin to enter the capital’s corps, both land and sea. The building was opened on July 6, 1829. All the cadets of the First , Second , Pavlovsky , and also the Marine Cadet Corps from 6 to 11 years old were transferred to it (then boys of 6-8 years old were accepted into the corps). Pupils of the corps were divided into four companies, one of which was called the sea. There were no entrance exams. Each company consisted of three departments under the supervision of special overseers, to which uncles from retired non-commissioned officers were appointed. In the 13th division of the corps, which was called the reserve corps, children who had not yet reached the age of seven acted according to special Highest orders.

Initially, the training course was five years, since 1836 - three years. The following were taught in the Cadet Corps: God's Law, Russian language, arithmetic, Russian history, calligraphy, drawing, gymnastics, singing, dancing, drill-down disciplines; in addition, German is in the land companies, and English is in the sea companies. 260 thousand rubles were issued for the maintenance of the corps per year.

To educate 400 cadets, the state corps had: directors from generals, his assistant, a boss and 151 class ladies subordinate to her, 27 nannies, an economist, doctors, an accountant and a treasurer. Each department of the building was supervised by a classy lady who was the immediate and closest teacher of children - according to the organizers, she was supposed to replace her mother and only girls were accepted for this position, as well as widows who could not have children. In the corps, a cruel system of punishment was widely practiced for the most insignificant misconduct, even for childish pranks - the director, class inspector, boss and senior lady in the company had the right to apply corporal punishment. Nevertheless, in his memoirs A.P. Bogolyubov wrote:

Alexander the Younger was especially unlike anything. I consider him one of the most humane institutions of Nicholas . Nicholas loved children, for less than two weeks had passed before someone from the Highest ladies visited the corps, and therefore they dressed us cleanly, fed us well and took care of our state of health. They also taught well. There were no natural sciences, but people came out, and even what!

The cadets of the Alexander corps wore: caps made of dark red cloth with a scarlet band, in the middle of which above the peak were letters “AK”, overcoats made of gray cloth on a bike lining with epaulettes made of scarlet cloth, gray cloth pants.

The last admission of pupils took place in 1857, after which the corps was abolished and in 1860 its last pupils finished their studies.

The first director of the corps is Major General A. X. Schmidt . Since 1834, the leadership for 21 years was taken by Colonel I.I. Khatov , later Lieutenant General.

• Fyodor Avelan (1847-1849)
• Alexey Bogolyubov
• Nikolay Bogolyubov
• Modest Dubrovin (1846-1849)
• Nikolay Obruchev (1837-1841)

• The position and charter of the Alexander Cadet Corps . - SPb., 1829. - 112 p.

• Alexander cadet corps for minors
• Cadets of the Alexander Young Cadet Corps 1832-1846 / Viskovatov A.V. // Historical description of clothing and weapons of the Russian troops. - Novosibirsk, 1944 .-- T. 25.