of Sydney, and he became friendly with some of them. One of these was a member of the staff of the Sydney Herald, Charles Kemp, with whom he joined forces to purchase the Herald for the sum of £10,000. The paper was bought on terms, friends helped the two men to find the deposit, and on 8 February 1841, they took control as proprietors. The two men formed a well-run partnership as each had qualities that supplemented the other's. Fairfax and Kemp worked in harmony for 12 years and firmly established the paper as the leading Australian newspaper of the day. It was given the fuller title of the Sydney Morning Herald in 1842, and in spite of a period of depression Fairfax suffered, both partners, by 1853, were in prosperous positions. Kemp then decided to retire. The partnership was dissolved in September 1853 and Charles, John's eldest son, became a partner. In the previous year, his father had visited England and seeking out his old creditors repaid every man in full with interest added. Under Fairfax and his sons, the paper continually increased in public favour and the great increase of population in the 1850s added much to its prosperity. It was always conservative; G. B. Barton in his Literature in New South Wales said in 1866 that its Toryism had "increased in a direct ratio to the Radicalism of the constitution, and its prosperity in a direct ratio to its Toryism". But this is an overstatement. The Herald was moved to its present site in 1856, and at that date claimed to have the largest circulation in the "colonial empire". A weekly journal, The Sydney Mail, was established, its first number was published on 7 July 1860, and it continued to appear until 1938. In 1851, John Fairfax was a foundation director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, and in the 1860s a director of the Sydney Insurance Co., the New South Wales Marine Insurance Co., the Australian Joint Stock Bank and The Australian Gaslight Co. and a trustee of the Savings Bank of New South Wales. Religion Fairfax was a sincerely religious man, a member of the Congregational Church at Pitt Street. However, his paper was kept free from religious bias and was in no way responsible for the strong sectarian feelings which then existed in Sydney. His household was typically Victorian in its outlook. However, in