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Son of Pauline and Samuel Isaacs, of Vryburg, North West Province, South Africa. Born in 1880. Pauline died when Albert was just 1 year old. His father soon remarried, and the boy was brought up in the Jewish tradition by his father and step-mother. Later Albert became a member of the Johannesburg Stock exchange, and went on to become their chief book-keeper. As a young man he took part in the Second Boer War (1899-1902).
Albert Isaacs joined Cullinan's Horse. He participated in the invasion of the German South-West Africa. During the action Isaacs established himself as a translator, having cooperated with the Intelligence Staff, and rendered most valuable assistance, using his first language to translate captured German papers into English. In 1917, he applied to the War Office for a position as an interpreter, and was commissioned to join the army with the rank of Lieutenant. At the beginning of the war, the Middlesex Regiment was stationed in the Barnsole Road School, but very soon compulsory billeting was introduced, and the men were distributed among the local population. Members of the regiment were billeted in the same neighbourhood, so each morning after breakfast they could assemble for drills in the nearby streets. During those last days of August Isaacs took drills, which he found awful. He attended two or three interviews in London, but was turned down due (in his own mind at least, and perhaps in fact) to his family origins. The war created many local spy scares Medway was known for its naval and military bases. Quite frequently those scares involved innocent people, whose foreign-sounding names or known foreign descent put them under suspicion. Isaacs clearly fell within the second category: his mother was German, and he spoke German better than English. Isaacs brooded over his rejections. He tried to resolve the situation by speaking to one of the training instructors of the officer's class, and explaining himself. He stated that he felt he was in a false position, although he was an interpreter and knew German better than English, he was repeatedly being turned down, because his mother was German. He knew nothing about infantry work, and felt that he was more inefficient in it than even the rawest recruit. He was offered a job as a miner, listening out for German miners and tunnelers in the trenches, but that position did not attract him. Isaacs wanted to be an interpreter. The instructor suggested persevering, which did not ease the situation. Every day Isaacs became more and more agitated and complained a lot about not being able to get away from infantry life. The army clearly wasn't interested in utilizing his best skills. On 1 September he wrote several letters, which he stamped but did not post. In a letter to his father Albert wrote that things "turned out so differently to my expectations". On Sunday 2 September Isaacs arrived to the Queen's Head Hotel at 1:45pm for his lunch. It was his third visit to the Hotel, their cooking was definitely better than in many other places. He quickly had his meal and left the place before 2:30. At 6:30pm he returned for his dinner. In the bar he had half a bitter and dry ginger and then proceeded to a private room where he ate his meal in solitude while reading. At five minutes to nine Isaacs asked the manageress of the Hotel whether he could have a wash and was shown to the bathroom on the first floor. To everyone who saw him that evening he looked normal though rather quiet. It was not obvious that under this pretended quietness and calmness Isaacs was deeply suffering from immense stress and a combination of emotions, being rejected and wasted in the army, hurt, feeling under suspicion on account of his excellent knowledge of German, his detestation of infantry work and a sense of total helplessness in the situation. Unable to find a satisfying solution at 9:30pm Isaacs fired 3 shots into his chest through an opening in the front of his tunic. He was found still conscious by an officer from a neighbouring regiment. As the latter rushed out to call for a doctor, yet another black thought descended upon Albert, he was a failure, incapable even of killing himself. What had he done? There was no future. The officer had not seen the revolver, and Lt Albert Isaacs fired 2 more shots through the same wound. The death certificate states the cause of death as "shooting himself during temporary insanity"; the inquest verdict "suicide during temporary insanity". ***Jewish |
