Prince Edward Island – the Island’s First Printers

The Island’s First Printers – James Robertson and William Alexander Rind

James Robertson (1747 – 1816), a Loyalist from New York, first brought his press north to Shelburne, Nova Scotia.

After the American Revolution, Britain restricted American trade with its remaining colonies. Beginning in 1783, a series of new Orders in Council effectively shut American merchants out of much of British North America. For the Island of Saint John — governed largely by absentee landlords and chronically short of investment — the loss of nearby American supplies made difficult conditions even worse. Trade slowed to a crawl, cash was scarce, and food shortages were not uncommon. These restrictions remained in place until 1789, when the embargo was finally lifted; Robertson printed the proclamation announcing its end.

In 1787 Robertson moved again at Lieutenant-Governor Edmund Fanning’s invitation to St John’s Island (now Prince Edward Island) and, on September 15, issued the first number of The Royal American Gazette and Weekly Intelligencer of the Island of Saint John — the colony’s first newspaper. Beyond the paper, he printed the Assembly’s Journal and the colony’s statutes while juggling posts such as deputy postmaster and sheriff. A weak local economy and only modest government support made the venture precarious; by 1788 officials admitted they couldn’t sustain the press, and Robertson soon left the Island.

Before departing, Robertson had hired William Alexander Rind (1766 – 1842), a Virginia-trained printer, to work in his small Charlottetown office. Rind was the son of Clementia Rind, a pioneering printer and publisher who took over The Virginia Gazette after her husband’s death. Growing up in that busy, politically charged print shop, he was immersed in the trade from a young age and brought solid experience to the Island.

Rind stepped neatly into the vacancy as King’s Printer, continuing the government newspaper as The Royal Gazette and Miscellany of the Island of Saint John. He anchored himself locally by marrying Elizabeth Ann Bagnall in 1790 and printed official work for nearly a decade before returning to the United States in 1798. Travelling with him was his 15-year-old brother-in-law, James Bagnall, who apprenticed under Rind and later returned to Prince Edward Island to set up a new press of his own.