Hendrik Alberts

Gen. Hendrik Abraham Albert (Hoeko, near Ladismith, Cape Colony, April 7, 1855 - Honingfontein Farm, near Heidelberg, Transvaal, September 8, 1906) was a South African military commander, author, and businessman for whom the city of Alberton and the Johannesburg suburb of Albertville were named, as well as the 90-hectare Albert's Farm conservation area near Greymont. The General Alberts Primary School in Alberton is also named after him.

Background and youth
Alberts was the oldest son of Hendrik Abraham Alberts and Martha Magdalena Claassen of Heidelberg, Western Cape. He grew up on his father's farm, but little is known of his education other than that he was home-schooled by his mother at least sometimes. Later briefs and war correspondence show a high level of literacy.

After marrying 17-year-old Petronella Johanna Oosthuizen of Ladismith when he was 19, they moved to near the other Heidelberg in South African Republic (ZAR) and settled near Heidelberg, where he would become a wealthy farmer by the outbreak of the Second Boer War.

Second Boer War
With the outbreak of the Second Boer War in October 1899, he enlisted in the Heidelberg commandos and was deployed to the Natal front.

He participated in a number of battles, including the Battle of Spion Kop (January 24, 1900), in which he served as acting field cornet. After the occupation of Pretoria by British Army troops in June 1900, he retreated with the Heidelberg commandos to Machadodorp, where he served as commandant in place of Cmdt. Cornelis Johannes Spruyt, who had been promoted to general. He continued to serve in Spruyt's place when needed, such as when the latter and Gen. Louis Botha fought Gen. Horace Smith-Dorrien at the Battle of Lake Chrissie (February 6, 1901). When Gen. Spruyt was killed in action in July 1901, Alberts was promoted in his stead.

He became Gen. Botha's right-hand man in East Transvaal, such as in the Battle of Bakenlaagte on October 30, 1901, where they defeated Lt. Col. George Elliot Benson. Alberts was then deployed with several Transvaal commandos to the Orange Free State, fighting over a wide area in tandem with Gen. Christiaan de Wet. At the Battle of Kalkkrans, in February 1902, he and the other Boer Republic forces were routed by the British lines, and he therefore had to join Gen. De Wet on a retreat into the Drakensberg.

Afterwards, he returned to East Transvaal to harass British supply lines, in order to relieve pressure on Gen. Botha's forces. In May 1902, he was at the signing ceremony of the Peace of Vereeniging, where he spoke in favor of accepting the British peace proposal. When the commandos laid down their arms on June 5, 1902, at Kraal Station, he handed a letter of thanks to his officers.

Postwar
After the war, Alberts returned to work on his farm, but he needed to rebuild his house and barn from scratch. In time, thanks to several profitable real estate transactions, he restored his finances. He remained a fervent supporter of Gen. Botha and an active participant in local politics, including the foundation of the Het Volk Party in the C.N.O. School in Transvaal. Alberts also led a syndicate that purchased the ground where the city of Alberton, bearing his name, would one day stand.

In 1905, he began to experience the heart disease that would soon end his life. A.P.J. van Rensburg wrote of him in the Suid-Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek: "fatherlander par excellence, deeply pious, friendly, and approachable, he won a lasting place among the heroes of South Africa." He was survived by three biological sons, two biological daughters, and an adopted son.

Albert's Farm
In the 1890s, according to tradition, Alberts leased 114 acres of the old farm of Waterval to its owner. The original homestead is long gone, but the fenced family graveyard remains. In 1946, Albert's descendants sold 45,000 m² for £18,500 to the city council for public use.