Background
Alexander Remy was born in 1809 in the city of Saint St. Petersburg into a Russian noble family Remy (family) of Swiss descent.
Alexander Remy was born in 1809 in the city of Saint St. Petersburg into a Russian noble family Remy (family) of Swiss descent.
The ancestor of Remy came to Russia in 1787, when the officer Jean-Gabriel Remy entered the Engineering Corps in Saint St. Petersburg. Remy 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 St. Petersburg, brother officer of Mikhail Lermontov.
Alexander Remy 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.
The cigar-case presented to Remy by Lermontov may be viewed at the Tarkhany museum (музей-заповедник «Тарханы»). Alexander Remy participated in several wars and was decorated with Stanislaus of 2nd degree, Vladimir of 1st degree (with a ribbon), Anna of 3 degree (with ribbon), and a silver medal for courage.
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).
Alexander Remy 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).
He died in 1871 in a train accident near Novocherkassk. The mansion of Alexander Remy 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.
Remy took an active part in the city affairs: he was member of the committee for the construction of Taganrog Theater and of the Charity society.