The ''Eastern Province Herald'' is a newspaper, founded in 1845 and based in Port Elizabeth,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

John Paterson, founder of the ''Eastern Province Herald'' (1822-1880)

John Paterson was born in March 1822 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of a vintner/farmer/stone-mason, John Paterson Snr. and his wife Barbara. When John was six years old his father died as a result of an accident in a stone quarry. After John Snr's death, Barbara undertook to educate the boy but in 1832 she was persuaded to send him to Aberdeen Grammar School which he attended until 1836. While there he studied mathematics under Dr James Gordon of the Mathematical Public School of Aberdeen. In November 1836, he went to Marischal College, applied for a bursary and won one which saw him through the next four years of his University training. In his first year there he came third in Greek. The following year he studied Natural Philosophy, Higher Greek and Latin. During his third year he came second in Mathematics. On October 6, 1840, he was awarded his M.A. When Professor James Rose-Innes returned home to Aberdeen from the Cape Colony to recruit teachers for the senior government schools planned by Sir George Napier and

Sir John Herschel Sir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet (; 7 March 1792 – 11 May 1871) was an English polymath active as a mathematician, astronomer, chemist, inventor, experimental photographer who invented the blueprint and did botanical wor ...

The founding of the ''Eastern Province Herald''

The paper was founded by Scottish immigrant John Paterson (Cape politician - Jock Paterson) on May 7, 1845. In 1841 Paterson was contracted by the Cape Government to become a teacher at the free school in Port Elizabeth. His contract forbade him to hold two jobs so he registered the newspaper in the name of his partner, John Ross Phillip. After an argument with Ross regarding the printing of the newspaper, Paterson temporarily ceased publication of the ''Eastern Province Herald'' but after a few months, he resumed publication. In 1857 he sold the ''Eastern Province Herald'' to his friend

Robert Godlonton Robert Godlonton (1794–1884) ("Moral Bob") was an influential politician of the Cape Colony. He was an 1820 Settler, who developed the press of the Eastern Cape and led the Eastern Cape separatist movement as a representative in the Cape's ...

, owner of the ''

Grahamstown Journal Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana Loc ...

''. Philip opened the competing ''

Port Elizabeth Mercury A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

'' newspaper shortly after the split with Paterson. In the mid-1870s the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

underwent a massive economic and social growth, and the paper finally became a daily paper in 1878, as well as a full printing company.

References

Daily newspapers published in South Africa Mass media in the Eastern Cape {{SouthAfrica-newspaper-stub