Klemens von Metternich
Klemens Metternich was born into the House of Metternich on 15 May 1773 to Franz George Karl Count Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein, a diplomat who had passed from the service of the Archbishopric of Trier to that of the Imperial court, and his wife Countess Maria Beatrice Aloisia von Kageneck. He was named in honour of Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the archbishop-elector of Trier and the past employer of his father. He was the eldest son and had one older sister. At the time of his birth the family possessed a ruined keep at Beilstein, a castle at Winneberg, an estate west of Koblenz, and another in Königswart, Bohemia, won during the 17th century. At this time Metternich's father, described as "a boring babbler and chronic liar" by a contemporary, was the Austrian ambassador to the courts of the three Rhenish electors (Trier, Cologne and Mainz). Metternich's education was handled by his mother, heavily influenced by their proximity to France; Metternich spoke French better than German. As a child he went on official visits with his father and, under the direction of Protestant tutor John Frederick Simon, was tutored in academic subjects, swimming, and horsemanship.
Alois Hugo Nellmapius
Born in Bielitz Poland on the 5th May 1847. His given name was Alois Hugo Neumann the son of Albert and Charlotte Neumann, but upon coming to South African changed his last name for reasons unknown. He trained as an engineer in the Netherlands and arrived in South Africa on board the ship "Nathan" in 1873 - one of his fellow passengers was John X. Merriman, later Prime Minister of the Cape Colony. This was the year that gold was first found in the ZAR. He was successful at gold mining near Pilgrim's Rest in the Eastern Transvaal, and managed to obtain the first transport concession to Delagoa Bay in 1875. He constructed what is now known as the Nellmapius Road, from Mac-Mac and the goldfields, crossing the Crocodile River at Nellmapius Drift near Hectorspruit to Matalha Poort in Mozambique. For these services he was granted 4 farms. Nellmapius made and lost several fortunes in his lifetime and was a close friend of Paul Kruger,there is a plaque in the National Kruger Park commemorating this very thing. He was the first digger on the Transvaal goldfields to make use of dynamite.