W. Bridekirk

W. Bridekirk (1795-1843) was a journalist, compositor, printer and publisher in Cape Town. Also listed as William Storey Bridekirk or William Bridekirk. The name W. Bridekirk also occurs frequently as reference to his business W. Bridekirk and Co.

Biography

Born William Storey Bridekirk in South Shield Durham on 19th October, he came to South Africa on the SS Gertrude from Gravesend in 1817, arriving in Table Bay on 30th July, 1817.

He possibly resided at 20 Buitengracht Street and for a while apparently worked as printer and publisher for the colonial government and published The Cape of Good Hope Government Gazette from their offices at the "Government Gazette Office", adjoining George's Hotel, Heerengracht Street. Later set up the publishing business W. Bridekirk, which published numerous works, including Thomas Pringle and John Fairbairn's South African Journal, The Cape Cyclopaedia (1835), The South African Chronicle and Mercantile Advertiser (1824-1826), The Colonist (1827-8), his own news-sheet entitled South Africa Grins, or The Quizzical Depot of General Humbug, Joseph Suasso de Lima's journal De Versamelaar (1827-1835)as well as his plays,

He died in Cape Town on the 8th September, 1843.

Sources

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-IMMIGRANTS-BRITISH/2004-12/1102057563

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/SOUTH-AFRICA-EASTERN-CAPE/2004-09/1094702443

https://www.geni.com/people/William-Storey-Bridekirk/6000000006951632126

http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/list_of_early_modern_newspapers#Africa

Archie L. Dick. 2015 "Copying and Circulation in South Africa's Reading Cultures" in C. Davis and D. Johnson. 2015. The Book in Africa: Critical Debates. Springer[1]

http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/william-storey-bridekirk-printer-and-publisher-dies-cape-town

F.C.L. Bosman, 1928. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel I: 1652-1855. Pretoria: J.H. de Bussy. [2]: pp. 191,

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