ALBRECHT, Richard Fredrich Wilhelm, Major (1848 – 1926)

MAJOR RICHARD FREDRICH WILHELM ALBRECHT, who has been so prominently connected in the affairs of the late Government of the Orange Free State, was born in Berlin in the year 1848. He is the only son of the late F. W. Albrecht, Esq., a well-known merchant of Berlin, in which city Major Albrecht was principally educated at the Real Gymnasium.

With the exception of a few years spent as an architect in Berlin on the completion of his studies, his whole life has been devoted to the Army, and for a period of fifteen years Major Albrecht served in the German Guards Artillery with the rank of Sergeant-Major, and during that period saw service throughout the famous Franco-German War of 1870-71, taking part in the battles of Gravelotte, Boamont, Sedan, and Paris, and is the proud possessor of two medals in addition to the decoration for long service.

In the year 1880, having been engaged by the late Free State Government, Major Albrecht set sail for South Africa, where he was appointed to the command of the Free State Artillery, and four years later was present at the annexation of Thaba'Nchu. It was he who raised the Free State Mounted Service Police Corps, and commanded that body from 1886 to 1896. During the late Anglo-Boer war Major Albrecht commanded the Free State and Transvaal Artillery on the western borders of the Free State, and took part in the battles of Belmont, Roodelaagte, Modder River, Magersfontein, Rondabels Drift, Klip Drift, and Paardeberg, at which latter historical battle he, together with General Cronje and his forces, was taken prisoner by the Imperial troops. On the termination of the long struggle betwixt Boer and Briton, Major Albrecht returned to Bloemfontein, where he now lives in Douglass Street as a retired gentleman. Both under the old and new Governments he holds the appointment as a Justice of the Peace for the Colony, and for twelve years has been Chairman of the Buildings Commission of Bloemfontein.

In the year 1892 he married the widow of the late M. Van Iddekinge, of Bloemfontein.

In conclusion, it may be stated that Major Albercht’s name is a household one in Bloemfontein, and, both as a gallant soldier and as a gentleman of staunch integrity and honour, his reputation will long survive him when he has joined the long list of those who have gone before him.

Source: Men of the Times, published by The Transvaal Publishing Company, Johannesburg, Cape Town & London, printed by Eyre and Spottiswood, His Majesty’s Printers, 1906, p. 525