Robert Godlonton
|
The Hon. Robert Godlonton |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 24 September 1794 |
| Died | 30 May 1884 (aged 89) |
Robert Godlonton (1794–1884) (or "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 Legislative Council.
Robert Godlonton was born in London on 24 September 1794. He was a weak and sickly child and after he was orphaned at the age of twelve he was apprenticed at a printing office.
He emigrated to the Cape as part of the 1820 settlers, taking with him a small printing press. However the British Governor, fearing the beginnings of a free press, confiscated the press and compensated the price.
After unsuccessful attempts at farming, he became a clerk at a landdrost's office and was gradually promoted over the next ten years.
The Cape was finally given freedom of the press in 1828, due largely to the efforts of the journalist and politician John Fairbairn. In 1834 Godlonton became partner in the Grahamstown Journal and in 1839 he took over the business. The firm, now renamed Godlonton & White, became the leading newspaper in the Eastern Cape. He eventually developed a wide range of business interests, but his primary activity remained newspapers and the printing industry. He gained a controlling stake in the Kingwilliamstown Gazette, the Uitenhage Times, the Queenstown Free Press, the Eastern Province Herald, the Eastern Province Monthly Magazine, the Friend of Bloemfontein, and Het Grahamstads Register en Boeren-vriend.
With the time and resources of his business success, he able to concentrate on additional personal publications, such as "Narrative of the Irruption of the Kafir Hordes (1836)" and "Notes on the Separation of the Eastern from the Western Province", proposing a stronger colonial policy against the neighbouring Xhosa people and calling for more British immigration to the Eastern Cape to bolster its White population.
Godlonton began to involve himself in politics soon after he arrived in the Cape. He took an active role in the frontier wars as member of the board of defence and, although never elected a municipal commissioner, he diligently attended town and committee meetings in the area. Later, as his business enterprises grew, he began to take a much stronger role in Cape politics.
...
Wikipedia