Background
Valerian Mikhailovich Antonov was born in 1826 in Tbilisi, Dushet'is Raioni, Georgia.
Tiflis Gymnasium
Tiflis Gymnasium
Badge of the 81st Apsheron Infantry Regiment
Gold Badge -13th Grenadier Regiment
military officer novelist playwright police officer
Valerian Mikhailovich Antonov was born in 1826 in Tbilisi, Dushet'is Raioni, Georgia.
In the 1st of August 1844 Antonov was enrolled in Apsheron Infantry Regiment as non-commissioned officer with secondment to Yerevan Carabinier Regiment as a trial. Being the part of the same regiment he took part in Caucasus War since 1845. In the same year Antonov was hit in left hip which caused open wound. After he was awarded with the Cross of St. George for courage during fights against North Caucasus highlanders. In the 16th of January 1846 Antonov was officially voluntarily transferred to Yerevan Carabinier Regiment. In 19th of June 1846 he was promoted to quartermaster; in the 3rd of October 1847 he was promoted to officer for his courage during the fortification of Achkhoy-Martan. In the 26th of April 1853 Antonov was promoted to lieutenant for service excellence.
During the Crimean War, Antonov, as part of the same Yerivan regiment, took part in hostilities at the Caucasian Theater of War. In 1853, for the distinctions in the battles with the Turks, he was awarded with the order of St. Anne of the 4th degree with the inscription "For bravery". Also "for distinctions in affairs against the Turks" on April 18, 1854, was made into lieutenant. July 24, 1854 received a bullet wound clean through in the right leg and was sent for treatment to the Alexandropol military temporary hospital. For the distinctions in that case on June 17, 1855 he was promoted to staff captain.
In 1859 Antonov was transferred to the 20th Infantry Battalion in the rank of captain and in the same year, as part of the Chechen detachment of the Russian army, took part in a summer expedition against the highlanders. "For military distinctions and pains suffered" in that campaign Antonov was awarded with the order of St. Stanislaus of the 2nd degree with swords. In 1862, in the rank of major, he resigned; but after the Polish gentry uprising in 1863, he, in January 1864, in the rank of captain, enlisted in a separate corps of gendarmes, in which he was immediately appointed as a head of the gendarmerie administration of Ponevezhsky Uyezd.
After the suppression of Polish riot, Antonov transferred to the St. Petersburg police, where he took up the post of bailiff of one of the parts of the city. In 1871, in the rank of lieutenant colonel, he moved to Odessa, where he took up the post of police officer in the city police department. There Antonov with "excitement" conducted operational search work; in the same year on October 24 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and awarded with the diamond ring for excellent success.
In 1873, he was slandered, and on the basis of false accusations in the same year he was removed from his post. Being under investigation, using his police experience he engaged in literary activity. The court took place only in 1878, and by his decision Antonov was expelled from service.
In 1880, after the corresponding report of the Minister of Justice D.N. Nabokov, Alexander II personally allowed Antonov to return back to the service. After that, he continued to serve as a police bailiff of one of the sections of Saint Petersburg, then was appointed as an acting police officer of the capital. In the autumn of 1884, after illness, Antonov resigned, leaving with an uniform and pension.
Antonov's distinctive features were "honesty" and "principled". He actively fought against corruption, in particular against bribery in the police apparatus, as a result of which he made many enemies from the circle of top officials.