William Layton Sammons

(1801-1882) Author, journalist, columnist and editor. Best known in South Africa by his nom-de-plume Sam Sly. Born in England, he was trained **. Came to Cape Town in 1842. He was a decided champion of the theatre against the strict Methodism of the times (while himself being a convinced Christian, who later opened a shop selling Christian litwerature), as well as one of the earliest regular theatre critics in South Africa. Aside from regularly publishing in the more established newspapers, such as the Cape Town Mail, Sammons soon started his own weekly review, Sam Sly's African Journal (1843–1851) to promote culture and entertainment in general in the Cape. According to C.A. Holdridge (2010), it was "a hybrid newspaper and literary and satirical periodical aimed at an Anglophone immigrant readership in the period between the abolitionof slavery and the granting of representative government to the Cape Colony". Satire was obviously a trong element iin it make-up. The first issue appeared in Cape Town on 1 June 1843, and appeared weekly thereafter, with brief intermissions, until 1851. It gave a humerous and lively picture of literature and public entertainment, particularly the sport, music and theatre of the time. It was often also polemical and took up specific issues. For example, in 1845 he took the lead in campaigning for a new theatre for Cape Town, which resulted in 1846 in the building of the Drury Lane Theatre. After the closure of the journal, he became a bookseller and journalist for the Graaff-Reinet Herald.

He also wrote occasional poetry, which was published mainly in pamphlet form.

Sources

Fletcher, 1994*?;

Bosman, 1928: pp 464-468;491

Holdridge, 2010.

William Layton Sammons in ESAACH[1]

C.A. Holdridge Sam Sly’s African Journal and the Role of Satire in Colonial BritishIdentity at the Cape of Good Hope. M.A Dissertation, University of Cape Town, 2010.

c. 1840-1850

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