OH GRANDMAMA! BY JOAN SIDNELL 1 CONTENTS PREFACE Page 4 FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS Page 6 CHAPTER 1 – A Chance Encounter (1904) Page 9 CHAPTER 2 – The Honoured Guest (1904) Page 19 CHAPTER 3 – The Portrait (1904) Page 27 CHAPTER 4 – Forbidden Love (1904) Page 37 CHAPTER 5 – The Proposal (1905) Page 46 CHAPTER 6 – Confession (1905) Page 55 CHAPTER 7 – Across the Sea (1905) Page 62 CHAPTER 8 – Into the Mountains (1905) Page 68 CHAPTER 9 – In Disgrace (1905) Page 76 CHAPTER 10 – Good News and Bad (1905) Page 87 CHAPTER 11 – Back Down the Mountain (1905) Page 99 CHAPTER 12 – A Painful Separation (1906) Page 111 CHAPTER 13 – The Cycle of Life (1906) Page 121 CHAPTER 14 – An Artist’s Garret (1906) Page 131 CHAPTER 15 – A Tour of Torino (1906) Page 141 CHAPTER 16 – Collina Verde (1906) Page 151 CHAPTER 17 – High Society (1906) Page 158 CHAPTER 18 – The Baron’s Typewriter (1906) Page 167 CHAPTER 19 – New Beginnings (1906-1907) Page 175 CHAPTER 20 – The Convent (1907) Page 184 CHAPTER 21 – The Good Wife (1907-1913) Page 192 CHAPTER 22 – London (1913-1914) Page 203 CHAPTER 23 – The Shadow of War (1914) Page 215 2 CHAPTER 24 – For the Greater Glory (1915-1917) Page 227 CHAPTER 25 – Walking Wounded (1917) Page 235 CHAPTER 26 – Hiding Out (1917) Page 244 CHAPTER 27 – The Bitter End (1918) Page 253 CHAPTER 28 – Peace at Last (1918-1919) Page 260 CHAPTER 29 – Typhoid Fever (1919) Page 268 CHAPTER 30 – Revelations (1919) Page 275 CHAPTER 31 – Uprooted (1919) Page 282 CHAPTER 32 – The Pain of Separation (1919) Page 293 CHAPTER 33 – Struggling On (1919) Page 300 CHAPTER 34 – Piccanina (1920s) Page 310 CHAPTER 35 – Moving Up (1920s) Page 321 CHAPTER 36 – Love Blooms (1932) Page 332 CHAPTER 37 – Married to the Army (1932-1937) Page 342 CHAPTER 38 – Giovanni’s War (1932-1945) Page 348 CHAPTER 39 – The Good German (1940-1944) Page 360 CHAPTER 40 – Fond Farewells (1944-1945) Page 369 CHAPTER 41—Enemy Alien (1938-1941) Page 381 CHAPTER 42 – Love during Wartime (1941-1944) Page 390 CHAPTER 43 – Ghosts from the Past (1945-1948) Page 497 CHAPTER 44 – Letters from Malta (1952-1962) Page 406 CHAPTER 45 – A Visit to Italy (1966-1970) Page 412 CHAPTER 46 – Finding the Family (1980) Page 425 CHAPTER 47 – Back to the Old House (1980) Page 438 CHAPTER 48 – A Secret Revealed (1984) Page 447 CHAPTER 49 – The Book (1984-1999) Page 456 CHAPTER 50 – Home at Last (2000) Page 464 3 PREFACE As a small child I was used to hearing about my mother’s childhood. There were happy bits and not so happy bits. And the names of the people mentioned provoked different moods in my mother; she spoke of some with a smile on her face, while others produced a look of deep hurt in her dark eyes. When she spoke of her darling Papa, her eyes sparkled and she smiled a lot. I grew up with my own vision of this big man with a marvellous voice who could paint and sculpt all manner of things and who took her everywhere with him when she was small. He was her guiding light and kept her safe from harm as much as possible. However, any mention of her mother, Emma, would have the opposite effect and her face would darken. There was little or no relationship between the two of them for several decades. My mother grew up feeling Emma had abandoned her and did not love her. My original aim in writing this book was to address this misconception on my mother’s part, one that remained with her for many years. In seeking to describe and explain Emma’s behaviour, I hoped my mother would come to realise that she had indeed been loved, but had simply been the victim of cruel circumstance – and that her own mother had suffered too. The title of the book refers to the difficult and adventurous life journey of Emma Boella (née Miller), who was, of course, my grandmother. The tale follows the choices she made and the trouble that resulted, both for herself and others. My version of Emma’s life is based in part on conversations I have had with family members who knew her, particularly her sister Rosa. However, there are many gaps in the factual thread, and Emma is now long dead. In which case, I have had to build the narrative by inventing various circumstances and imagining how she might have reacted, based on 4 what I know of her personality. To a large extent, I have imagined her reactions based on what I feel I might have said and done in her difficult shoes. The major characters in this book really existed, but some of the minor parts, such as gardeners, maids and family friends, have been invented. While some of the places and surroundings have been made up, others are based on accounts I heard from my mother when I was small. She really did ride on the back of Jack, the big St Bernard, and the children did play on the wooded hillsides near Torino when she was only just old enough to remember. I have tried to be fair and faithful in my accounts of family members, particularly those who are still alive or are well remembered. However, inevitably, I may have made errors here and there, for which I apologise. This book covers four generations of the family over the space of almost one hundred years, with events taking place in three countries: Malta, Italy and England. I hope that further generations of the family might get some idea of what their recent ancestors got up to and the struggles they faced. Needless to say, telling such a grand tale has been a mammoth task, and it could not have been completed without the assistance of my nephew David, who organized my files, edited my text and filled the many gaps with words of his own. In the process, he has cracked the whip mercilessly to ensure that I finally finish the book. As I write, I have just celebrated my 80th birthday, an event that coincided with completing the manuscript for this book. While it has been a fascinating journey, I must say I’m happy it’s finished! Now, time to get on with the next one… Joan Sidnell Teynham, Kent August 2014 5 FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS Emma Miller in her youth Giovanni Boella with brush and easel 6 Emma’s father Giuseppe Miller Joan Sidnell as a little girl 7 Joan Sidnell with her mother Iris Whatton 8 CHAPTER 1 A CHANCE ENCOUNTER (1904) Emma Miller grew up in a big old house in one corner of a square overlooking Marsamxett Harbour in the ancient city of Valletta. Today it is known as Independence Square, in honour of Malta’s independence from British rule. However, in the early years of the 20th Century, when Grandmama Emma was still a school girl, it was called something quite different, for the British were still very much in charge. Next to Emma’s home was the Anglican Cathedral of St Paul, with its tall spire and Ionic columns, a building frequented by British soldiers and sailors garrisoned on the island. Aside from the church visitors on Sundays, the square was mostly quiet and pleasant. A few trees offered shade in the middle, under which the old folk would sometimes sit and chat; carriages would occasionally rumble over the stones, bearing passengers on their way; but otherwise, nothing much ever happened. To say the house overlooked the harbour is a bit of an exaggeration, since it was only from the upper floors that anyone could see across the square and down the flight of stone steps to the seafront. The harbour was the smaller sister of the Great Harbour on the other side of Valletta, but it was still busy enough. There were boats of all sizes, coming and going, from cargo vessels breaking their voyage across the Mediterranean, to brightly-painted fishing boats that bobbed on the water like corks. British naval vessels were a common sight too, making the most of Malta’s strategic location between three continents. Across the bay’s sparkling water, one could see the island of Manoelo with its fortress and cannons ready to repel invaders. Anyone standing on Manoelo and looking back at 9 Valletta would have seen equally imposing fortified walls running down to the water’s edge, and behind them banks of shops and houses built from sand-coloured local stone, with green wooden shutters in the Continental style. The spire from the Anglican Cathedral marked Independence Square, and behind it stood the large silver dome of the Carmelite church. Lined up along the seafront were horse-drawn carretta’s, their black hoods providing protection from the strong sunshine. In the relative cool of evening, couples, old and young, would stroll along by the harbour walls to the sound of lapping waves. By early 1904, at the age of 18, Emma found herself the eldest of four children, three girls and a boy, overseen by two conscientious and highly respectable Maltese parents, Alessandrina and Giuseppe. The mother was from the Tagliaferro banking family, a fact that lent her impeccable social credentials. The family was originally from Italy and had built a large shipping business in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, with several prominent members acting as consuls for Rome, for which they were created counts by the Pope. The branch that settled in Malta eventually set up the Tagliaferro Bank and built several churches in Valletta and nearby Sliema.