The first edition of the Graham’s Town Journal, mouthpiece of the Eastern Frontier settlers, is published

The Gramstown Journal, one of South Africa's important and influential early newspapers, ran from 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. The paper was bought out in 1870 by Thomas Henry Grocott, founder of Grahmstown's Grocott's Mail, but continued to publish under it's own masthead until 1920.  The Grocott family began publication of Grocott's Mail in 1870, and completely incorporated the publication of the Grahmstown Journal in the Grocott Mail by 1919. Today, the Grocott's Mail  is the only newspaper that is published in Grahamstown, home city of Rhodes University. The Grocott's Mail remains the oldest surviving independent newspaper in South Africa. The paper was recently acquired by Rhodes University, and is used to train journalists by its Department of Journalism and Media Studies. Still, its new owners are determined that it remains a community paper and not become a university mouthpiece or student newspaper.