Sir George Werner Albu, 1st Bt.

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. In 1911 Sir George Albu bought the Parktown mansion, Northwards, (designed by Herbert Baker in 1904) for £12,000 (Colonel John Dale Lace and wife Josephine, the previous owners, had paid £21 000 for the house). He held the office of Danish General Consul to Johannesburg in 1913 and was decorated with the Order of the Dannebrog.

In the 1960s and 1970s General Mining and Finance Corporation merged with Federale Mynbou and Union Corporation, became Gencor, then Billiton, then BHP Billiton, one of the largest mining houses in the world, with interests in Borneo, China, Australia, South America and South Africa. Together with Cecil John Rhodes, Barney Barnato, Alfred Beit and others, the Albu brothers belonged to the wealthy and influential Randlord set. He died in Johannesburg in 1935.