The ''prime major'' was the

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

rank of the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

Life Guards and the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

of the 18th century. The rank belonged to the 8th class of "

Table of Ranks The Table of Ranks (russian: Табель о рангах, Tabel' o rangakh) was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a s ...

". According to the regulations of 1716 the

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

s were divided into prime majors and second majors. The prime major was an assistant to the colonel, and the second major was an assistant to his deputy lieutenant colonel. The prime major was in charge of the

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...

and the inspection units. He was the third official in the regiment. He exercised real command of the 1st

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

(

divizion {{army units A divizion (dywizjon) (a word in several European languages, mostly Slavic) is a military unit in some armed branches, usually artillery and cavalry, being an equivalent of battalion. It should be distinguished from division, which ...

) of the regiment (the battalion chief was the colonel), and in the absence of the regiment commander and his deputy, he could command the entire regiment. The division into prime and second majors was abolished in 1797. All prime and second majors became majors. In 1827, the majors received as an insignia two stars on the staff-officers' epaulettes.

Sources

* {{cite book, title=Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary, year=1890–1907 Military ranks of Russia