Albert Henry Hime

Who was Albert Henry Hime?

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Albert Henry Hime KCMG, PC was a Royal Engineers officer and later a prominent politician in the Colony of Natal.

He was born in County Wicklow. In May 1866 he married Josephine Searle in Plymouth, and three months later moved to Bermuda to work on a causeway there. Lieutenant Hime began drafting up his plan for the Causeway in 1867, and it would take four years before the project was finished. When it was finished, Hime delivered a report to Governor Lefroy in front of some 6,000 residents, describing his accomplishment as "solid and substantial...without any attempt at ornament" which would have increased the project's cost. Lefroy responded that Hime's name would become part of Bermuda's history, and that the young lieutenant would have a promising career. Hime was awarded a service of plate from the colonial government.

In 1878, Hime designed and built the Natal Mounted Police Headquarters on Alexandra Road. On 9 June 1899, he was appointed as the Prime Minister of Natal, a position which he held until 17 August 1903.