Cape Argus 160: from London with love
WHEN Robin Maris started telling the story of how his maternal great-grandfather, Francis Joseph Dormer, was the second editor of the Cape Argus, it became clear that Dormer’s passion for the news was passed down to his great-grandson and lives on in his passion for research.
The semi-retired 75 year old, who lives near London, reached out to the newspaper after reading about the Cape Argus celebrating its 160th birthday.
“It’s only in the last 10 years that I’ve decided to look at my mother’s side of the family because my father’s side has been well-documented,” Maris said.
“Francis Joseph came out in 1875 and met Cecil Rhodes on the way. Dormer married here. He came as a schoolmaster and went to Queenstown. In the Anglo-Boer war, I think he was the war correspondent for the newspaper.”
Dormer became one of the few editors who owned and edited the Cape Argus newspaper, taking over from the first editor, Saul Solomon, in 1881.
Dormer bought the paper with the help of Cecil John Rhodes. The two were good friends, Dormer even naming one of his children Cecil Rhodes Dormer, but they drifted apart after Rhodes tried to use their friendship to influence the newspaper.
Maris believes his great-grandfather wasn’t scared to ruffle feathers, because Dormer was sued at least once.
“He got convicted and fined a pound, because they reckoned he and another man had slandered a high-ranking official from Britain. The judge had found in the official’s favour, but he didn’t really, because the official had sued (Dormer) for half a million quid, and got a pound.”
After making his wealth in South Africa, Dormer returned to England where he settled in the 1900s, and published his book, Vengeance as a Policy in Afrikanderland: A Plea for a New Departure.
“The disappointing thing is that we don’t have a picture of him,” says his great-grandson.