Featuring a populist and pro-imperial slant, The Lantern was one of the first South African newspapers to publish political cartoons.

The Lantern was established by English immigrant Alfred A. Geary in 1877, and was targeted towards Anglophone white South Africans, who were mostly of British descent.

"[1][2][3][4] The Lantern, being a right-wing newspaper, frequently denounced liberal politicians in the colonial Parliament such as Saul Solomon and John Charles Molteno along with opposing the expansion of the Cape Qualified Franchise.

Much as the discontinued paper The Zingari had done, The Lantern published political cartoons covering a wide range of topics in colonial society.

Notable cartoonists which illustrated cartoons for The Lantern included William Howard Schröder, Hugh Fisher, Erling D. Haslam, Henry Mills, Alpine Menzies and Vane Bennett.