Peter Essen

Count Peter Essen was a Baltic German General of the Infantry in 1819 and a count. He belongs to the bourgeois Essen family from Pärnu. Essen's only daughter, Alexandrine Essen, married count Pontus von Stenbock-Fermor in 1835, at which point they began using the joint name Essen-Stenbock-Fermor.

Career

Essen enlisted as a sergeant in the Life Cuirassier Regiment in 1787, and transferred to the Pavlovsky heir battalion in 1790. He received promotions through the ranks, and in 1796 was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the Life Guards Izmailovskiy Regiment. In 1796 he was promoted to colonel and in 1798 was promoted to major-general, and became head of the Vyborg musketeer regiment. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1800.
In August 1800, Essen was appointed military governor of Vyborg, and chief of the garrison of the Gorchakov regiment. In 1802 he was appointed head of the Vyborg and Shlisselbourg musketeer regiments. In 1807 he was awarded the Order of St. George, third class, for his actions in the Battle of Eylau.
Essen headed the 8th, 27th, and 4th Infantry Divisions of the army during 1816 and 1817, and was appointed military governor of Orenburg in 1817, and was appointed manager of the civil part of the province. In 1819, he was made a general of infantry. From 1830 to 1842 he served as military governor-general of St. Petersburg and a member of the State Council. In 1834 he was awarded the Order of St. Andrew for his service.

Awards

Russia's Order of St. Andrew, diamonds ; St. Vladimir 1st century bol. kr., 2nd century ; St. Alexander Nevsky, diamonds, White Eagle ; St. George 3rd Class ; Sant'Anna 1st century diamonds, 2nd century, 3rd st. ; St. John of Jerusalem.
Foreign orders: Prussian Order of the Black Eagle and the Red Eagle 1st century.
Other: gold sword "for bravery" with diamonds, silver medal in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812, a bronze medal in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812, Medal of Honor "for XLV years of faultless service".