Lorenz Richard Francke, winemaker at E.W. Sedgwik and Co., Cape Town, and collector of invertebrate animals, was the son of Christian Frederich Francke and his wife Therese Cornelie, born Baur. He was appointed assistant to Professor P.D. Hahn* in the Chemistry Department of the South African College, Cape Town, in July 1881 but resigned from this position in June 1884. In 1896 R. Frank, presumably him, presented scorpions from Schlanghoek (now Slanghoek, a region west of Worcester, against the Slanghoek Mountains) to the South African Museum in Cape Town. Several more donations of invertebrates, by R. Francke, followed in 1897: A centipede from Slanghoek; scorpions from Slanghoek and Rabiesberg (east of Worcester) and Solifugae from Rabiesberg, collected with W. Frederick Purcell*; and a centipede from Cape Town collected with Purcell and R.M. Lightfoot*.

Francke was married to Anna Rosalie Lemmerz, with whom he had four children. He was buried in the cemetary of the Sarepta Mission Station, Kuilsrivier.

List of sources:
Cape of Good Hope. Report of the trustees of the South African Museum, 1897.

Heese, J.A. South African genealogies. Pretoria and Stellenbosch, 1986-2005.

My Heritage. Else Francke. https://www.myheritage.com/names/else_francke Retrieved 6 December 2016.

My Heritage Family Trees. Anna Rosalie Francke. https://www.myheritage.com/names/anna_lemmerz Retrieved 6 December 2016.

My Heritage Family Trees. Therese Cornelie Francke. https://www.myheritage.com/names/therese_francke Retrieved 6 December 2016.

National Automated Archival Information Retrieval System (NAAIRS). http://www.national.archives.gov.za/naairs.htm Documents relating to Francke, Lorenz Richard.

Ritchie, W. The history of the South African College, 1829-1918. Cape Town: T. Maskew Miller, 1918.

Robertson, H. Biodiversity explorers. http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/people as on 6 December 2016.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2020-04-23 17:30:14