b. 1876 Burgersdorf, SA. d. 06/01/1900 Ladysmith, SA.
Herman Albrecht (1876-1900) was born in Burgersdorf, Aliwal, North Cape, South Africa in 1876. Little is known about Herman’s early life before he joined the Imperial Light Horse (Natal) as a Trooper before the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899.
Herman Albrecht VC
On the 6th January 1900, at Wagon Hill, near Ladysmith, Lieutenant Robert. J. T. Digby Jones, Royal Engineers, and No. 459 Trooper H. Albrecht, Imperial Light Horse, led a force which re-occupied the top of the hill at a critical moment just as the three foremost attacking Boers reached it. The leader was shot by Lieutenant Jones, and the two others by Trooper Albrecht.
Shortly afterwards, both Digby-Jones and Albrecht were hit and killed by more enemy fire on the position. They would have been recommended for the Victoria Cross had they both lived and this was stated in the entry in the London Gazette of 8th August 1902. In fact, both men’s families had already received the VC via registered post four months earlier in April 1902.
Albrecht was buried in a mass grave on the site of the battle, a spot which is now marked by a memorial obelisk, with the names of the fallen marked on its sides. His medals are held by the National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg, South Africa.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY, JOHANNESBURG, SA.
BURIAL PLACE: IMPERIAL LIGHT HORSE MEMORIAL, MAIDEN CASTLE, NATAL, SA.
