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I agree on the military cap badge being British, at high resolution it looks like GR.  On the Russian insignia, two of my Russian colleagues I showed it to immediately said Railway Engineer?  Unfortunately, the crossed hammers are used by both mining and railway engineers so a trip to both museums may be required to confirm which it is.  I'll keep you posted.

The Mining Museum of St Petersburg, State Mining Institute is located at number 2, 21st Line, Vasililievsky Island.  Check out their Enlish language web site at WWW.russianmuseums.info/M105.  You could try e-mailing them at SPMI@mail.wplus.net for archive information about your relative.  I suggest 'Google translate' to send your enquiry in Russian or to read this or alternative Russian websites   

Myfi

I did a little research - check out:
http://www.encspb.ru/en/index.php?pg=0&dir=&level=2&kod=2803920674
Unfortunately the cemetery I suggested (Novodevichie kladbishe) behind Mother of God Kazan did not open until 1845.  The next nearest - Gromovsoe kladbishe opened in 1835 but is now derelict (information available only in Russian on the same web-site).  The oldest and largest cemetery is however Volkovskie kladbishe - 26 Hectares, opened 1719.  It is not so far away.  I will check this out in the spring as I also have relatives there.  Unfortunately, there are over 13 km of footpaths  - a needle in a haystack.

Regarding sixverst, I had some inspiration.  I think I told you a Verst was 1.067 km and that distance is commonly used to mark featureless terrain?  Well, I noted than some railway stations are simply 5km, 7km, etc.  There is one station 6km in the north next to the Ford factory - it was previously a brick factory.  In the south, there is a 5km station and a 7km station.  The station halfway between is the Lomonosov Porcelain factory stop.  Any chance your ancestors were involved in either brick or china works?     

Malcolm
St Petersburg

Hi Myfi

I've searched without result for references to 'Sixvert' in and around St Petersburg.  A few suggestions though - verts is an archaic unit of length (1.0668 km) six in Russian would be Shest; I've therefore also searched 'Shestverts' on both English and Russian (Cyrillic) maps.  As you are probably aware, many place names were renamed during Soviet times and some reinstated or renamed again.  Shestverts could equally have been the name of a residence or estate rather than a town or village.  St Petersburg was established in a swamp and much of the surrounding land is featureless.  Distance markers are commonly used even today to identify a particular spot.  Shestverts could possibly have been approx 6 km from the City centre and therefore long since consumed by the 'modern' suburbs.

Check for BD&M in the Overseas section of the Family Research Centre, London.  Many ex-pats registered events at the British Embassy St Petersburg

Any details of the 'Russian factory'?  I'd be happy to put you in contact with a local researcher if you wish to explore this subject further

Regards 

Malcolm
St Petersburg, Russia

Can anyone help me track down Noel A Robbins or other descendants of Thomas Shearston Robbins?  Noel was the informant on his fathers death on 2nd July 1962 in Burnaby, BC, Canada.  Thomas Shearston Robbins born 21st March 1884 in Somerset UK, married Nellie Roch (1880-08/08/1914).  No further details are known.