Nicolas Savin

Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Savin (17 April 1768/13 July 1787? – 29 November 1894) was a French soldier and a claimed supercentenarian, although this cannot be verified. He claimed to be the last survivor of the French Revolutionary Wars of 1792–1802 and the last French officer of the Napoleonic Wars. After the defeat of Napoleon's Army, he settled in the Russian Empire.

A Russian document dating from 1839 suggests that by his own account Savin was born about 1787. This would contradict his earliest claims about his military service and would make his age at death about 107, instead of 126. The oldest verified age for any person is 122 years old.

Military career Savin claimed to have been born in 1768 and to have enlisted in the 2nd Regiment of Hussars in 1788. He said his father, Alexandre Savin, was killed in battle defending the Tuileries Palace during the French Revolution. Savin also claimed that he had "been at Toulon in 1793," had fought in Egypt in 1798, in the Peninsular War, and in the 1812 invasion of Russia. Around this time he was promoted to sous-officier (lieutenant) and transferred to the 24th Chasseurs a Cheval. He was awarded many medals, including the Legion d'Honneur and the St Helena Medal. In 1812 he was captured by the Cossacks and later worked as a fencing master for the Tsarist army.

Later life

Following Napoleon's defeat Savin settled at Saratov Gubernia, Russia, and Russified his name as Nikolai Andreevich Savin. He married a Russian woman and had at least one daughter. From 1814 to 1874 he worked as a tutor, teaching French to the children of the nobility. In 1887, Tsar Alexander III of Russia gave "the old soldier a present of a thousand rubles." By the 1890s, he lived in a small Russian cottage with a bronze statue of Napoleon in his study. Voyenski attributes Savin's long life to his tea-drinking and active lifestyle: the old man enjoyed painting and continued gardening until he fell sick in November 1894. After receiving the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, Savin died on 29 November 1894.