Corps of Pages

(Pazheskii Korpus), a military educational institution for the privileged in prerevolutionary Russia. Its purpose was to prepare the children of the higher dvorianstvo (nobility or gentry) aristocracy for military and state service.

The Corps of Pages was founded in 1759 in St. Petersburg as an institution for the education and training of pages and chamber pages. In 1802, because of the need to train qualified officers for the guards units, it was reorganized into a type of cadet corps, in which only pages of the tsar’s court were accepted. During the military educational reforms of the 1860’s, it was divided into seven classes. The five junior classes were of the military Gymnasium type. The two senior classes were similar to a military school. In 1885, seven general classes were introduced, in which subjects from the curriculum of the cadet corps were studied, as well as two special classes for the military and juridical sciences.

Graduates of the Corps of Pages enjoyed mainly the privilege of service in the guards and special forces and were given the rank of second lieutenant, or cornet in the cavalry. Those unfit for military service were granted the civilian ranks of the tenth, 12th, and 14th classes.