George Albu

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Sir George Albu, 1st Baronet (26 October 1857 - 27 December 1935) was a mining magnate in the diamond and gold industries of South Africa. George Albu was born in Brandenburg, Germany in 1857. The sons of Simon Albu (26 February 1830 - 26 February 1911) and Fanny Sternberg (d. 24 October 1912), George and his brother Leopold were German Jews who emigrated to South Africa in 1876. On arrival in Cape Town, George became an assistant at the haberdashery counter in Stuttafords. After some time in Cape Town, they moved to the diamond-fields of Kimberley, accumulated financial interests, and sold out to De Beers at a substantial profit, before settling on the Witwatersrand and becoming a naturalized Transvaal citizen in 1887. George Albu purchased the ailing Meyer and Charlton Mine, restructured it, and on 30 December 1895 he and his brother established General Mining and Finance Corporation. Naturalized as a UK citizen in 1911, he was created 1st Baronet Albu of Johannesburg on 12 February 1912 - at that time baronetcies were bestowed on a large number of Randlords.