Man battered to death hit headlines in 1951

Press, 9 July 1979, Page 1

Man battered to death hit headlines in 1951

By

BOB McCORMICK

! George Errol Engelbrecht, aged 94, who was found battered to d.ath in his Lower Hutt house last Thursday, slipped out of world head- . lines 28 years ago and immediately became obsessed with a prediction that he would suffer the fate he ultimately did.

The Lower Hutt market gardener, aged 66, attracted world-wide attention with a planned chase across the world to capture a German bride 29 years his junior but from the same country he had left as a boy of 14. Mr Engelbrecht planned to head off a Nelson goldminer, Francis Hargreaves, then aged 64, who also regarded himself as a prosp.ctive suitor for Mrs Basilia Bauminghaus, then aged 37, a photographer. I was assigned by a Wellington newspaper to cover Mr Engelbrecht’s bid, with the then exciting prospect of a flying-boat journey to Sydney, where I was to wait to travel back across the Tasman with the couple if “our man” won. The aftermath of World W II was still quite evident in 1950 when Mrs Bauminghaus, a war widow, sent an advertisement to the “Nelson Evening Mail” pleading for help to bring her and her daughter, then aged seven, to New Zealand from a small illage near Munich. At the time the Russians were threatening to overrun eastern Germany. Mrs Bauminghaus received 22 replies but only Messrs Engelbrecht and Hargreaves maintained correspondence with the attractive woman.

However, the New Zealand immigration authorities declined requests by both men to bring her to this country because she was a former enemy. Each man had arranged for the payment of fares for Mrs Bauminghaus and

her daughter and planned to propose marriage as soon as she stepped foot in New Zealand.

Mr Engelbrecht went even further. I vividly remember him showing me a house he had bought in Lower Hutt for his intended bride. It had a room attached and he asked me V bring out a newspaper photographer to advise him on how to convert the room to a photographic studio.

Meanwhile Mr Hargreaves had left his sluicing claim on the Glenroy River, beyond Murchison, and had decided to go to Germany to marry Mrs I tuminghaus there, giving her right if entry to New Zealand as his wife. He left in the Rangitiki in September, 1951, and was several days away before I had to break the i. ws to Mr Engelbrecht in his garden after receipt of

a telegraphed story from the ship. Mr Engelbrecht made an immediate decision: in spite of infrequent air travel at the time, the publicity of the case attracted help from all directions and a flying journey of only three days was planned to get Mr Engelbrecht to Germany, heading off his rival suitor.

Officialdom bent over backwards to help Mr Engelbrecht in the race and the immigration authorities promised entry for Mrs Bauminghaus if she became his wife.

As the time approached for his departure, Mr Engelbrecht seemed unable to contain his excitement and became very sensitive about the affair. The more help he received, the more worried he became about what people would think if Frau Bauminghaus rejected him.

A report from Nelson broke him down. The report said that Mrs Bauminghaus had written to a person saying that she had no intention of marrying Mr Engelbrecht, who cancelled his plans the day before he was due to leave. Subsequent events proved that no such letter was written. During an interview explaining his change of heart, Mr Engelbrecht showed me £l2OO he had saved by setting aside a 10-shilling note a day for what was to have been the event of his life. He was known to have hoarded a lot of money and after the publicity accepted the advice of the Lower Hutt police to put ail his money in a bank. But an obsession started to grow within him. He feared a lonely death, probably at the hands of someone who thought he may still be hoarding money. In a later interview, he was reported as saying: “Fate has never been kind to me in matters of love: I fear it is going to be less kind if I continue to live alone.” The police are now trying to unravel how and why the old man, who stepped out of the headlines and even more gracefully into obscurity met a terrible death last week. Footnote: Mr Hargreaves won the race but Mrs Bauminghaus was unable to get to London to meet him and so they were married in Germany. Mr Hargreaves flew back to New Zealand, while his wife and daughter arrived by sea. However, they did not live as a family and the marriage was not a success, apart from getting Mrs Bauminghaus into New Zealand. Seven years later they were divorced. Mr Hargreaves carried on goldmining, Mr Engelbrecht carried on market-gardening, and Mrs Bauminghaus finally returned to Germany.