Malta - Cornish Migrants, Travellers and Descendants
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Cornish Global Migration Programme Murdoch House, Redruth. Cornwall. TR15 2BU [email protected] Copyright Michael Kiernan 2020 MALTA - CORNISH MIGRANTS, TRAVELLERS AND DESCENDANTS A BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER 1 CONTENTS 1. Introduction to the Register. Pages 2 to 5. 2. The Biographical Register. Pages 6 to 47. IMAGES Memorial - E F Roach 1864-1904 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 1 Methodist Chapel, Floriana 5 Memorial - J F Carter 1909-1941 Kalkara Naval cemetery 6 Memorial - R J Tiddy 1897-192 Kalkara Naval Cemetery 7 Memorial - G. Arthur 1879-1904 Ta’Braxia Cemetery x 2 12 Triq Blackley, Street Sign, Pieta 14 Kingston House (home of Blackley family), Pieta 14 Blackley Bakery, Pieta 14 Memorial - Elizabeth A Blackley 1822-1887 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 16 Memorial - Richard W C Blackley 1841-1872 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 16 Memorial – William R Hawken 1848-1918 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 18 Memorial – John Hoskin 1828-1890 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 19 The Premises of Thomas Jenkin 1844-1917, Valletta 20 Memorial – Amelia Jenkin 1852-1875 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 21 Memorial – Thomas Jenkin 1844-1917 Ta’Braxia Cemeterey 22 Memorial – James L Kirkness 1843-1881 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 23 Memorial – Richard Oldfield 1831-1885 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 24 The Commonwealth Air Forces Memorial, Floriana 28 Memorial – Arthur Furse 1879-1915 Kalkara Cemetery 29 Memorial – Ernest F. Lambe 1871-1891 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 31 Memorial – William Perham 1840-1879 Ta’Braxia Cemetery x 2 40 Memorial – William Paynter 1837-1862 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 43 Memorial – Amy E. Morris nee Kitto 1869-1948 Ta’Braxia Cemetery 46 2 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE MALTA BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER The Cornish Global Migration Programme (CGMP) is a long term project tracing and recording the diaspora of the Cornish people. The streams of Cornish migration are usually associated with North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa but with ‘hot spots’ in more unexpected places such as South America, Cuba and Mexico. The CGMP take a broad approach for deciding who qualifies as a migrant to be included within the study. Malta is certainly not a migration destination normally associated with Cornwall. The involvement of the British through military and marine activities in that country for over 170 years suggested that a study of the Cornish in that country may act as an exemplar for indicating how the inclusion of Occupational Travellers (both Military and Marine) and Descendants affects the understanding of Cornish migration. Located in the Mediterranean only 60 miles south of Sicily and 220 miles north of Libya the strategic position of the small island of Malta has a fascinating history and involvement with many nations and a unique culture forged through occupation and intercourse with diverse peoples. The British ruled Malta from the beginning of the nineteenth century until the Union Jack was lowered in 1979 and Malta became independent. The British built military bases and a huge harbour facility with ship building facilities. Over the years of British rule vast numbers of Military personnel passed through Malta, numerous civil servants ran the government machinery, huge hospitals were built to treat the wounded from various British wars - the Crimea, the Egyptian war, the Napoleonic wars, Galipoli in the First World War and, not least, the terrible pounding taken by the people of Malta in the Second World War. The study unearthed 254 people directly involved with Malta. Following in the family footsteps of these candidates we found 64 family members (such as parents and siblings) who were also migrants but associated with other countries. An interesting statistic that the CGMP data base can produce is an analysis of the Cornish districts of origin of migrants. It is possible that the inclusion of occupational travellers may tweek current concepts. For instance, it may be expected that those living in East Cornwall would be attracted to the Royal Navy with a large base just across the border in Plymouth and those living near Falmouth attracted to a life at sea in the merchant marine. The numbers of military travellers so far recorded is probably insufficient to draw firm conclusions but a trend is discernible, for instance, the full database tells us that Falmouth district provided 4.7% of all Cornish born migrants and 20% of all military migrants. The main focus of the CGMP study is upon those born in and who migrated from Cornwall. Such people are classified as Generation 1. People born outside of Cornwall with a parent born in Cornwall are Generation 2, with no birth qualification except a grandparent then Generation 3 and so on. Descendants are not generally included without a particular reason. An instance of such a reason is found in the Cornish connection with Mexico where many children were born to Cornish parents and a complete picture of the Cornish Mexican connection requires an understanding of those descendants. The study did reveal that were a small number of migrants to Malta who were not occupational travellers but rather true Cornish migrants (CGMP classify these as Linear Migrants). Thomas Jenkin (Ref. 108163) born in Truro about 1844 became a highly respected dentist. He lived in Malta for 57 years, had eight children and was buried in Ta’Braxia Cemetery in 1917. His house in Valletta is at the centre of a World Heritage site, this was was traced. 3 The house and shop of a nearby neighbour was the centre a greatly revered business - Blackley Bakery and Confectioner. Frederick Blackley was born in 1812 in Kent and married a Cornish girl Elizabeth Ann Nicholas (ref. 108157) who was born in Falmouth 1823. The couple opened their business in Valletta in 1840. The business continued to the 1980s (in the later years ownership changed but the name continued). Memorials to the family were traced in Ta’Braxia cemetery and the premises in Valletta were found as well as the Blackley ‘factory’ in Blackley Street, Pieta. The building is in need of restoration, with ovens still extant and highly protected against inappropriate development as a listed building by the Malta authorities. There are still people in Malta who talk about the teas and cakes at Blackley’s with awe. John Hoskin (Ref. 108162) was born in Cornwall in 1828, married Fanny Bawden in Redruth in 1859 and lived in Malta for over 30 years where they had a large family. It is believed John Hoskin worked for the Eastern Telegraph Company and that he was a prominent Wesleyan. John with members of his family are buried in Ta’Braxia cemetery. The ‘Victorian Internet’ was created in the second half of the Nineteenth century. A global spiders web of cables was laid around the world with the main hub based in Portcurno in west Cornwall. By 1900 there was about 100,000 miles of international undersea cable linking Portcurno to many places including Africa, South America, the Far East and Australia. By the 1920’s Marconi had developed radio communications (also closely associated with Cornwall) and the two systems joined under one company - the famed Cable & Wireless. Today Porthcurno is the home of that company’s historic archives and museum. From 1857 Malta played an important part in this international communication system and provided an employment opportunity for Cornish Migrants. The graveyards of Malta are sprinkled with memorials to employees of The Eastern Telegraph company. The laws of Malta decreed that marriages had to be performed by a Roman Catholic priest. With the arrival of the British in 1800 many none Catholic soldiers, sailors and civilians wished to get married. Army chaplains and other Protestant clergy conducted marriage ceremonies when both parties were not Catholic but when the marriage was ‘mixed’ it was not unusual for two ceremonies to be held, one Anglican and one Roman Catholic. There was concern that such marriages were not legal and it was not until 1892 that the Vatican decreed mixed marriages as valid. We have traced and entered details of one mixed marriage in the CGMP data base, it is that of Charles Blenkinsop of St. Gluvias (Ref 108139) to Guiseppina Vella in 1854. Burial grounds with supporting burial Registers (if extant) are regard by the author as an important resource for tracing migrants. During a visit to Malta many cemeteries were visited. Memorials were identified as commemorating Cornish migrants. These were recorded and transcribed and the results embedded into the CGMP database. More than one photograph of each memorial was taken and a total of 123 memorial photographs added to the database. A memorial to Edward Freeman Roach (Ref. 108167) illustrates the importance of this type of resource (see above title page). The memorial tells us that Edward Roach died in Malta in 1904, and that he was the master of the S.S. Trekieve and that he was of St. Ives, Cornwall. Subsequent research into his biographical details resulted in no less than thirty-four migrants being entered in the data base covering seven countries. Although Malta is small in size there are many burial grounds. Locating the cemeteries and then searching for relevant monuments is time consuming and can be a complex task, not least because opening times are not always readily advertised. My survey of the burial grounds is probably not complete. 4 Methodists arrived in Malta shortly after the British military garrison was established. The early Methodist Ministers (missionaries) did not restrict their pastoral duties to the garrison and attempted to convert the local Roman Catholic population. This caused great resentment. In 1826 William Harris Rule, a Cornishman born in Penryn in 1802 and like many of his fellow Cornish a staunch Methodist, arrived in Malta and his evangelising efforts resulted stones being thrown at him in the streets of Valetta.