Reminder kerchiefs were first produced during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78. They were issued to soldiers as an aide to quickly learning the rules of service and the workings of the Berdan II rifle adopted by the Russian army in the 1870s. Cloth kerchiefs proved more convenient and effective than paper instruction booklets, and continued in use by the Russian Army until as late as World War I.
The reminder kerchief displayed here features not just the disassembling of the Berdan II rifle, but also the picture story of a Kaluga soldier’s heroic deed. During the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, Semyon Starichkov, a Russian non-commissioned officer, saved the colours of the Azov Musketeer Regiment that had been surrounded and decimated by the enemy. Starichkov was wounded but managed to take the colours down from the flagstaff and hide them in the bosom of his coat. Captured by the enemy, he preserved the colours until his dying hour, when he handed them over to Chaika, a private of Butyrsky Regiment, making him swear that the flag would be returned to Russia. Private Chaika kept his oath.
The heroic act of the man, born in Kaluga, was used as an example to teach the soldiers that saving the regimental colours was equivalent to saving the formation’s honour, as the loss of the flag meant the disbandment of the regiment.
The manufacture of reminder kerchiefs was commissioned by the War Ministry to the Danilovskaya Manufactory, founded in Moscow by Vassily Meshchorin, a merchant of the 1st guild, in 1876. The enterprise started out as a cloth-weaving factory producing calico to be finished into chintz and kerchiefs at finishing and printing factories in Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Moscow. In 1877–79, the concern was expanded to include its own chintz printing and kerchief block printing factories and a cotton spinning mill.
From 1882 on, the Danilovskaya Manufactory maintained the full production cycle and became one of Russia’s major textile producers. With a workforce of 6,000, it turned out all sorts of fabrics. In 1912, its output was 2 million pieces of cloth and almost 20 million kerchiefs. The Manufactory was entrusted with special orders of memorial items, such as satin kerchiefs celebrating 100 years of Russia’s victory in the Patriotic War against Napoleon in 1812. In 1913, the concern’s consolidated capital amounted to 3 million rubles.
The Danilovskaya Manufactory was nationalized in 1919 and later renamed after Mikhail Frunze. The original name was restored to it in 1994.
The reminder kerchief displayed here features not just the disassembling of the Berdan II rifle, but also the picture story of a Kaluga soldier’s heroic deed. During the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, Semyon Starichkov, a Russian non-commissioned officer, saved the colours of the Azov Musketeer Regiment that had been surrounded and decimated by the enemy. Starichkov was wounded but managed to take the colours down from the flagstaff and hide them in the bosom of his coat. Captured by the enemy, he preserved the colours until his dying hour, when he handed them over to Chaika, a private of Butyrsky Regiment, making him swear that the flag would be returned to Russia. Private Chaika kept his oath.
The heroic act of the man, born in Kaluga, was used as an example to teach the soldiers that saving the regimental colours was equivalent to saving the formation’s honour, as the loss of the flag meant the disbandment of the regiment.
The manufacture of reminder kerchiefs was commissioned by the War Ministry to the Danilovskaya Manufactory, founded in Moscow by Vassily Meshchorin, a merchant of the 1st guild, in 1876. The enterprise started out as a cloth-weaving factory producing calico to be finished into chintz and kerchiefs at finishing and printing factories in Ivanovo-Voznesensk and Moscow. In 1877–79, the concern was expanded to include its own chintz printing and kerchief block printing factories and a cotton spinning mill.
From 1882 on, the Danilovskaya Manufactory maintained the full production cycle and became one of Russia’s major textile producers. With a workforce of 6,000, it turned out all sorts of fabrics. In 1912, its output was 2 million pieces of cloth and almost 20 million kerchiefs. The Manufactory was entrusted with special orders of memorial items, such as satin kerchiefs celebrating 100 years of Russia’s victory in the Patriotic War against Napoleon in 1812. In 1913, the concern’s consolidated capital amounted to 3 million rubles.
The Danilovskaya Manufactory was nationalized in 1919 and later renamed after Mikhail Frunze. The original name was restored to it in 1994.
