the founding editor and first proprietor of the newspaper was david dale buchanan -wikitree-, who was born in new lanark, scotland on 17 december 1817. in 1829 at age 12 he arrived in cape town in the company of his elder brother, william. in cape town, he came into contact with men like thomas pringle and john fairbairn who played a prominent role in establishing the freedom of the press during the autocratic governorship of lord charles somerset. another influence was the missionary dr john philip, whose liberal ideas concerning the indigenous people of the cape colony had a profound influence on the youthful buchanan. while still in the cape he went into partnership with his brother to set up the "cape town mail." in january 1846, he disembarked with his family from the "julia" in durban and from there proceeded inland to pietermaritzburg, which had only three years previously been the capital of a boer republic.