Argus Printing & Publishing Company Ltd

Argus Printing and Publishing Company Ltd

Bulawayo/Salisbury

The Argus Printing & Publishing Company Ltd. was a subsidiary of the Argus Company of South Africa who were based in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

In June, 1891, the Argus Company sent William Ernest Fairbridge to Fort Salisbury to obtain reports about the settlement to send back to Britain. On 27th June, 1891, he filled a German sausage with glue and treacle, and using it as a roller, printed the first copies of The Mashonaland Herald (later to become the Mashonaland and Zambesian Times).

After working a year printing from a mud hut, Fairbridge imported more modern equipment by ox wagon from the South, and on 20th October, 1892, the Mashoanaland Herald and Zambesian Times became the Rhodesian Herald. Between 1894 and 1923, the company printed the British South Africa Company Government Gazette, which until 30th June, 1899 was a supplement to the Rhodesian Herald.

By 12th October, 1894, they had established their printing works on the south-west corner of Rhodes Street and Eleventh Avenue, Bulawayo and began publishing the Bulawayo Chronicle under the editorship of John W. Howard.

In 1927 the company established the Rhodesian Printing and Publishing Company in Southern Rhodesia to print its newspapers.

Postcards

Bulawayo
Salisbury

Reference

Contributors

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