John Fairbairn (educator)
| John Fairbairn | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
9 April 1794 Roxburghshire, Scotland |
| Died | 5 October 1864 (aged 70) Cape Town, Cape Colony |
| Occupation | Teacher, newspaper proprietor, politician and financier |
John Fairbairn (9 April 1794 – 5 October 1864) was a newspaper proprietor, educator, financier and politician of the Cape Colony.
According to the Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, “The embryo of the State education system we know today, trial by jury, the principle of the mutual life assurance company – all these were fruits of his endeavours at the Cape”.
John Fairbairn was born in Carolside Mill in the Parish of Legerwood, Berwickshire, Scotland on 9 April 1794, the son of James Fairbairn and Agnes Brack, who married at Lauder, Berwickshire 20 March 1783, James living in the Parish of Westruther, Berwickshire at the time.
He attended the University of Edinburgh where he studied Medicine "acquiring at the same time a more than passing knowledge of classical languages and mathematics". He did not graduate and, in 1818, he turned to education, and for more than 5 years taught at Bruce's Academy in Newcastle upon Tyne. Here he also joined the Literary and Philosophical Society.
In 1822, Thomas Pringle persuaded him to emigrate to Cape Town, promising a literary and teaching career in the recently annexed Cape Colony.
Fairbairn arrived in Table Bay on 11 October 1823 aboard the brig Mary. The Cape at the time was under the authoritarian control of the British Governor Lord Charles Somerset. Both the school and the scientific society which Pringle and Fairbairn tried to establish, both were obstructed and shut in 1824-1825 because of the Governor's disapproval of their activities.
With Pringle, he then turned to editing. Together they founded a periodical, the South African Journal in 1824, but the Governor closed it in the same year. They then founded another periodical, the New Organ in 1826 but it immediately suffered the same fate.
He and Pringle had been invited by George Greig in January 1824 to take over the editing of The South African Commercial Advertiser, southern Africa's first private and independent newspaper. The Governor censored the paper in May 1824, due to the reporting of a libel case that the Governor was already involved in. The newspaper reopened in 1825 with Fairbairn as the only editor, and he continued until 1859. He became sole owner too in 1835, when he purchased Greig's shares.
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Wikipedia