S.P.E. Trichardt

Official residence of Trichardt as Head of the State Artillery at the appropriate address of 1 Artilleriery, Salvokop, Pretoria. Stephanus Petrus Erasmus Trichard (23 January 1847, Ohrigstad - October 1907, Kenya) was a field cornet and Commander for the South African Republic (Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, ZAR) in the First and Second Boer War.

He fought in most campaigns against African peoples near the South African Republic. In the First Boer War (1880 – 1881) he joined the storming of Amajuba (Battle of Majuba Hill, 27 February 1881). As a young man, he participated in the ZAR's campaigns against Mapoch (1882 – 1883), the Swazi people and Sekhukhune. During the people's assembly at Paardekraal on 13 December 1880, he was elected field cornet (Afrikaans: veldkornet) for Middelburg and the neighbourhood of Olifants River, and shortly afterwards fought in the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit (20 December 1880) and the Battle of Majuba Hill (27 February 1881). Then he fell back with the Boers to the Orange Free State and fought in the Battle of Brandfort (25 March 1900) and later on in the Battle of Donkerhoek (Diamond Hill, 11 – 12 June 1900) in the ZAR.

At the Battle of Dalmanutha (Bergendal, 21 – 27 August 1900), he successfully demonstrated the State Artillery's capabilities, He recorded his experience during the Second Boer War he recorded in a memoir.

Land seeker Colonel Trichard's son Charles (C.J.) now considered the possibility of emigration to Madagascar, an area which had been explored years before by his grandfather Carolus. The Trichards were among a group of "bittereinders" (diehards) who attended a planning meeting in Ermelo on January 7, 1903. The six men who formed part of a delegation there for a Landseeking expedition to German East Africa, had excluded the Trichards for the time being. Colonel Trichard however did join the dozen of the Great Commission under the leadership of Piet C. Joubert, who departed from Lourenco Marques in May 1904. At Trichard's insistence, they visited Madagascar, which was also examined as a destination by the Reitz brothers and General Manie Maritz. They visited Tamatave (Toamasina) and Tananariwe (Antananarivo), and were received by Governor General Joseph Gallieni, who authorised them to undertake a fact-finding journey. After exploring the east coast, they however decided against settling because of three reasons, namely the official status of the Catholic Church, endemic malaria and the strong oriental influences.

From Madagascar, they travelled to Dar es Salaam, where they renewed the negotiations of 1903. They received permission to view the environment of Mount Meru, and returned soon after to the Transvaal, where their plans were completed in July 1904. In 1905, Trichard and his son Charles departed together with the Piet Joubert-trek to German East Africa. He eventually settled at Nakuru in Kenya, but died there during a hunting trip in October 1907.