The prosperous, industrial town of Albert, whose population before the
war numbered more than 7,000 inhabitants, is to-day entirely in ruins.
Lying at the foot of a hill, on both sides of the River Ancre, Albert
formerly went by the name of Ancre.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century Albert belonged to Concini,
the favourite minister of Marie de Medicis, but after his downfall in
1619 it became the property of Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes, who
gave it his name.