The historical growth of South Africa's oldest independently owned newspaper, Grocotts Mail.
Created by newmedialab on 07/09/2011
Last updated: 07/09/11 at 13:29
Tags: grocotts mail grahamstown history timeline
Grahamstown NOW , the first concerted attempt by Grocott’s Mail to provide news and real-time information to Grahamstonians on a mobile platform.
http://www.ghtnow.co.za/home
The Grocott’s Mail Citizen Journalism Newsroom is a walk-in community facility where citizens of Grahamstown can produce their own journalistic content (written stories accompanied with photographs, for example), for publication in Grocott’s Mail, in the MyStory section on Grocott’s Mail Online and elsewhere.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/cjnr
Here's a short clip showing scenes of the last-ever Grocott's Mail newspaper being printed on the historical printing presses on the Grocott's premises in Grahamstown. The newspaper is now printed in Port Elizabeth. Grocott's Mail is South Africa's oldest independent newspaper.
Grocott's Mail Online in its current form is launched. It is part of a Knight Foundation-funded project, Iindaba Ziyafika ("The news is coming"), the core proposition of which is that information and communication technology can enlarge the public sphere by providing the tools that encourage participation and facilitate that participation.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/
Grocott's Online was originally launched as the Grocott's Mail Digital Edition and run by staff and students in the New Media Lab at Rhodes University's School of Journalism & Media Studies.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/
During the 1990s, Grocott's Mail ran into financial problems, which resulted in the closure of the stationery and bookshop.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/history-grocotts-mail
Hugh Grocotts dies after working at Grocott's since 1935.
Although Arthur Kelvin Grocott (son of Vincent Grocott) trained to be a printer he did not enjoy being inside and so left the firm. 1960 saw Jeffrey (other son of Vincent) Grocott join the business, and he spent three years in London completing his training and then returned to the firm. In 1964, Jeffrey (“Jeff”) Grocott married Anne Quinton (nee Theron) from Cradock and the couple have two stepchildren, Gary and Jennifer, and a daughter Diane.
All the Grocott family – men and women – were involved in the life and betterment of Grahamstown. They were variously deacons and wardens in the church, members of sports clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, on the boards of local banks and were always known to lend a hand, monetarily and otherwise, to those in trouble. In 1947 this help proved invaluable to Rhodes University.
Rhodes was struggling financially and did not have the money to pay staff salaries – the story goes that one night at 10.00pm there was a knock on the Vice Chancellor's door. On the other side of the door were brothers, Vincent and Hugh Grocott, with a cheque to cover the next three months’ salaries.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/history-grocotts-mail
1905 brought a fire that burnt down the front shop but not the printing works. The front shop was rebuilt in 1906 – the floor, the shelving, the glass covered cabinets, the windows, are the ones you see today.
http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/history-grocotts-mail
1899 – 1902 marks a high point for Grocott's Mail – the latest machinery; an editor, Mr A Wadds Wright, formerly employed by the Times of London, with an eye for layout; the Reuters News Agency in operation; and the outbreak of the South African War.
Towards the end of 1899 and continuing until 1902, besides the daily edition, Grocott's Mail also produced a Weekly War Summary incorporating telegraphed reports from its 18 war correspondents in the field. These editions were in high demand in London. December 1899 saw the establishment of the Christmas Cheer Fund to support widows and orphans of the First City Volunteers. This fund continues and supports primarily women and children facing difficulties
http://www.grocotts.co.za/content/history-grocotts-mail
William Ellington Grocott was the first person to operate the first linotype machine which was promptly bought and installed in the printing works early in 1899. The machine was displayed at the exhibition in 1898.
In 1898, Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Industrial Arts Exhibition was held in Grahamstown. 171,433 tickets were sold over the month and on just one day 6,000 people arrived by ox wagon, coaches and train. At this exhibition Grocott and Sherry was awarded two medals of excellence and displayed a state-of-the-art business card printing machine – pedal powered.
William Ellington-Grocott also joined the firm as a partner, his specialisation being books and stationery.
In 1892, Mr Richard Sherry was appointed partner in the firm and the company became known as Grocott and Sherry. Richard Sherry is an enigmatic figure, little of him is known other than that his wife (unnamed) died after they had been married a very short while and that he never remarried but dedicated his life to the company until his death in 1931.
In July 1882, Grocott’s became a tri-weekly and the first newspaper in the country to publish serialised stories. In August of that year, he assisted in the founding of the National Press Union of which he was President from 1902 until his death in 1912.
In January 1875, the Grocott's Penny Mail was being distributed throughout the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, the Transvaal Republic and to missionary subscribers in Kuruman, Bamangwato and on the Zambezi. “Everything will be done to make the Penny Mail a complete record of everything important to be known.”
Steam power was introduced to power the machines, and this allowed the paper from the 2nd January 1872 to become Grocott’s Penny Mail, a bi-weekly distributed on Tuesdays and Fridays as it is in 2009. The editorial for the first edition described the change as “the outgrowth of the Free Paper taking its stand as a regular news-sheet.”
On the 11th May 1870, TH Grocott printed the first edition of Grocott's Free Paper - “An Advertising Medium for Town and Country” - despite the fact that five newspapers, plus the Grahamstown Journal, were already being published in the town.
On the 11th May 1870, TH Grocott printed the first edition of Grocott's Free Paper - “An Advertising Medium for Town and Country” - despite the fact that five newspapers, plus the Grahamstown Journal, were already being published in the town.
The founder of Grocott’s newspaper was Thomas Henry Grocott. Born and bred in Liverpool, he was apprenticed to Mr. H. Sherlock, proprietor of the “Liverpool Mail” in May 1854 where he remained for ten years. In 1864, Mr. R.W. Murray, junior, of the “Great Eastern Star” (Grahamstown) was on a visit to England. He made Thomas Grocott an offer to come to South Africa and join the staff of the Great Eastern Star newspaper.
The Grahamstown Journal, one of South Africa's important and influential early newspapers was launched in 1831- 1920. From its early days its editorial slant voiced the interests of English settlers in the Eastern Cape. The paper was also obliged to print government announcements and proclamations to its readership. As a result the paper was known as 'Settlers' Bible" from at least the 1860s, a title that still holds in the popular memory.
Louis Henri Meurant started Grahamstown's first newspaper the "Graham's Town Journal". The newspapers motto is "open to all parties, influenced by none" . Graham's Town Journal became a voice to the settlers on the Eastern Frontier, defending their interests against attacks by philanthropists.
Update Sources