Documents for the Red Cross Badges for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878

Certificate of the right to wear the Red Cross badge for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, issued on December 31, 1879, to Lieutenant General Veniamin Ivanovich Akhsharumov /Вениамин Иванович Ахшарумов/.

Paper, walnut ink, paint.
Size 353x221 mm.

Born on December 18 (30), 1826 in the family of Ivan Veniaminovich Akhsharumov (d. 1829). He was in the service from January 24, 1839; after graduating from the 1st Moscow Cadet Corps on August 10, 1845, he was promoted to ensign and assigned to the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment.

In 1847 he graduated from the Nikolaev Engineering Academy. In 1848 he was promoted to second lieutenant, and in 1849 to lieutenant. In 1849 he took part in the Hungarian campaign.

From 1854, he commanded a company of the Sapper Life Guards Battalion . He took part in the Crimean War. In 1855, he was promoted to captain of the guard, and in 1856, to colonel.

From December 14, 1859, he was the chairman of the Land Survey Office and honorary guardian of the Guardianship Council of the Institutions of Empress Maria Feodorovna.

In 1863 he was promoted to major general , on February 26, 1873 to lieutenant general, and from April 9, 1889, to engineer general.

He died on August 6 (19) , 1907. He was buried in Moscow at the cemetery of the Alekseevsky Convent.

 

Certificate of the right to wear the Red Cross badge for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, issued on April 14, 1890, to Kate Marsden /Кэти Марсденъ/.

Kate Marsden, FRGS (13 May 1859 – 26 May 1931) was Marsden was born in Edmonton in London in 1859 to solicitor J. D. Marsden and Sophie Matilda Wellsted. Her uncle was the explorer Captain James Raymond Wellsted. She became a nurse when she was 16 and went to work in a London hospital. She later became a matron at Wellington Hospital,New Zealand, having gone there with her mother Sarah, to nurse her own sister who was ill with tuberculosis. Her sister died within days of their arrival. Marsden's record gained her this senior position but she held that position for just five months. She had an accident on a step ladder which made her unable to work for several months. She resigned to mixed reactions – the governor William Jervois and the management gave her six months' wages when she resigned, although other commentators noted that she had insured herself only days before the accident and she was considered difficult and autocratic by her staff.

Marsden had set up a St John's Ambulance group in New Zealand and she gave lectures there. In her final lecture she announced that she intended to visit Louis Pasteur in Europe, and then go on to work with Father Damien in Hawaii caring for lepers. She was given financial support to continue her work.

She travelled from Tottenham to Bulgaria with others to nurse Russian soldiers wounded in Russia's war with Turkey in 1877. Working at the Red Cross mission, her selflessness and devotion brought her an award from Empress Maria Fedorovna.​

Girls Own Paper from 25 October 1890, Volume XII, No. 565.

 

Certificate of the right to wear the Red Cross badge for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, issued on March 6, 1880, to senior paramedic Sidorov.

 

Certificate of the right to wear the Red Cross badge for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, issued on September 10, 1879, to Olga Mikhailovna Tsvetkova /Ольге Михайловне Цветковой/.

 

Certificate of the right to wear the Red Cross badge for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, issued on November 7, 1879, To Baron Konstantin Nikolaevich Korf /Барону Константину Николаевичу Корфу/.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Korf /German: Konstantin Peter Freiherr von Korff; 1832 – 1895/ was a Russian Oberhofmeister and Actual Privy Councillor. He was born on July 25 (August 6), 1832, in his family village of Sala (Siedlce), Yamburg district, St. Petersburg province, and came from a Courland baronial family that received the title of baron at the end of the 16th century.

He was in the service and held a class rank since 1851, after graduating from the Imperial Alexander Lyceum (he had studied since 1843). In 1856 he was granted the rank of chamberlain. From 1859 he was the director of the economic affairs of the Nikolaevsky Orphanage, the Alexandrinsky Orphanage and the Real Women's School in St. Petersburg. In 1865 he was granted the rank of Chamberlain of the Imperial Court. In December 1868 he was promoted to actual state councilor; on July 22, 1877 - to privy councilor (a month earlier he had been granted the rank of chamberlain ). From 1881 he was the director of the economic affairs of the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor and the Alexandrinsky Women's Hospital in St. Petersburg.

From 1880 to 1895, he was an honorary guardian of the St. Petersburg Guardianship Council of the Institutions of Empress Maria Feodorovna; he was a member of the Council of the Educational Society for Noble Maidens. From December 29, 1894, he was Chief Chamberlain.

In 1895 he was promoted to the rank of actual privy councillor. He was awarded all Russian orders, including the Order of Alexander Nevsky, which was awarded to him on April 1, 1890.

He died on December 17 (29), 1895 in St. Petersburg. He was buried at the Volkovskoye Orthodox Cemetery.​