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Dormer's writings were incisive and often quite fierce, causing him controversy and court cases throughout his life. Aside from short stints on the Cape Town council, he avoided political office. However he was a tireless businessman of significant acumen and not without some principles. He regarded
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himself as a moderate and an Anglo-Afrikaner - who saw his loyalty to the
British empire as not incompatible with his South African identity. He was a supporter of the Uitlander cause in the Transvaal, and labelled himself as a "sane imperialist".
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had eyed the paper as a potential mouthpiece for his political aims and ideals. He needed Dormer to act as a front for ownership of the newspaper given its history under
Solomon of opposition to Rhodes's extravagant imperialism. Rhodes's agent,
363:, in which he blamed British policy for the war. Aside from his regular writings, in later life, he served as a director of several South African companies, as well as the London Chairman for the Transvaal Estates and Development Company.
339:, for its imperialist agenda. The directors appealed to Dormer, who got Kruger's permission to re-form the newspaper with a new name and outlook. Dormer therefore formed the
176:, who appointed the idealistic young journalist as sub-editor of that newspaper. He took over as the Argus' editor in 1878, taking over from his beleaguered predecessor
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in 1875, attracted by the economic boom that the Cape was undergoing at the time. He worked as a teacher at Oscar D'Alton
Doualier's academy on Roeland Street,
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In
November 1886, Dormer merged his company with Saul Solomon's printing works, which was being liquidated at the time. Dormer's company, now called the
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for racism, and which saw
Upington fight back with devastating lawsuits against figures such as Saul Solomon and Dormer which culminated in the
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from Saul
Solomon, for the price of 6000 pounds. It was uncertain initially how he had purchased it, as he was known to be very poor.
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During his term as editor, Dormer was heavily involved in the controversy which followed the "
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where he worked first for the municipality and then moved to accept a partnership in the
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was run by a syndicate, of which Dormer's company was the largest party. He founded the
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123:(1854 – 31 November 1928) was an influential journalist and newspaper editor in
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was reinstated, with Dormer again as editor, before he left for London.
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He was born in
Leicester, England, and emigrated to the
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The sympathy and style of his reports during the 1877
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Soon afterwards the
Transvaal government banned the
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He founded the first newspaper in the new colony of
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227:It was later revealed that the imperialist tycoon
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320:While on leave in London, Dormer was visited by
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268:He sent a resident director to expand in the
385:The History of Our Own Times in South Africa
241:Argus Printing & Publishing Company Ltd.
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316:Resignation and reinstatement (1895–1897)
108:Learn how and when to remove this message
408:Atlay, James Beresford. In Lee, Sidney.
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151:. In Queenstown he married Agnes Ella.
449:20th-century South African journalists
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280:newspaper, and relaunched it as the
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371:References
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131:Early life
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