Brigadier de gendarmerie

Context: [La femme] exerce [un voeu de mort] sur le malheureux personnage paternel, brigadier de gendarmerie, qui, malgré sa bonté et sagentillesse . . . se montre toute sa vie chagrin, déprimé . .
This is in a seminar by Lacan who speaks of a woman who holds her husband in contempt.

I'm wondering what the position is. I get the sense from the context that it is something of a low rank, something like a corporal, but wonder whether it is actually not a military or police position at all. Something like a "commissioner".

Hello,

You're right here: "brigadier" is indeed the lowest non-commissioned officer rank in some French army corps. In some others, it is called "caporal" (corporal).

Since the French "gendarmes" are actually part of the military forces, it is indeed about a military position here.

Thank you, snarkhunter.

Would a brigadier de police (police judiciaire, not gendarmes) be roughly equivalent to a police sergeant in the UK?

Or would it be better to start a separate thread for this?

Yes, brigadier de police seems to be (somewhat) equivalent to police sergeant in the UK:

Brigadier :
nm
(POLICE) ~sergeant
(MILITAIRE) corporal

👁 PN brigadier.gif
Brigadier de police ("Brigadier", Bier). Le rôle du Brigadier de Police est d'encadrer les Gardiens de la Paix et les Policiers-adjoints (anciennement Adjoints De Sécurité). Selon le service dans lequel il exerce ses fonctions, le Brigadier de Police peut être chef de bord d'un véhicule, chef de groupe, être adjoint d'un Brigadier-Chef de Police dans ses missions d'encadrement et de gestion d'une brigade, ou être chef d'une unité restreinte. (Wikipédia)