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Social Forces and the Police Response to Malta's 6Th May

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Social Forces and the Police Response to Malta's 6Th May TOWARDS A DISCOVERY OF ‘MISSING’ VOICES: SOCIAL FORCES AND THE POLICE RESPONSE TO MALTA’S 6TH MAY 1891 DISORDER by Rhoda Jayne Nemur Evans LL.M, LL.B (Hons) A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY Birmingham Law School The University of Birmingham Edgbaston, B15 2TT United Kingdom October 2011 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The aims of this thesis were two-fold. Firstly, to examine the class relations and social forces at play surrounding an incident of disorder which took place in the Maltese capital city of Valletta on the 6th May 1891. The disorder occurred during British colonial rule and involved a large number of protesters, some of whom were arrested. The second objective was to reveal the background to and the causes of the disorder, as well as telling the story of the incident itself, the role the police played and their response to the disorder. These aims have been achieved through conducting a detailed social and political analysis of the official archival records and the local English-language press reports created contemporaneously to the disorder. The analysis has uncovered a number of ‘voices’ representative of selected social groups which existed in Malta at the time. These were the official Whitehall and colo ny-level voices, the voice of the upper and middle-class Maltese as well as the voice of the lower-class Maltese. A number of key characters involved in the disorder have also been identified. It has emerged that the analysis contained in this thesis is incomplete as whilst the voice of the lower-class Maltese has been identified, this group remains unheard in its own right and the social and occupational composition of this group is yet to be established. Following Gramsci and Spivak, this socially subordinate group has been described in this thesis as the subaltern Maltese. The applicability of Gramsci’s and Spivak’s influential concepts of “subaltern” have been discussed in relation to colonial Malta. The background to and causes of the disorder have also been found to be more complex and to have had a greater bearing upon the disorder than hitherto appreciated. The accounts of the incident, and who was responsible for the disorder all differ dependent upon which voice is speaking and there are substantial discrepancies between the accounts. The middle-classes are identified as leading the protest that day, although the issues raised were of most concern to the subaltern Maltese. The role this group played in the disorder is unclear and this could be explored in further research. i The non-routine use of truncheons and a heavy police presence, complimented by an unutilised military contingent, are features of how the disorder was policed. A number of arrests were made, although these were accompanied by serious allegations of police brutality and provocation reported in the English-language press. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to myh mot er, who is such an inspiration to me. 3 PREFACE In accordance with the University Regulations for a thesis prepared in the Law School I have used The Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities (OSCOLA 2006). This Standard is not ideally suited for referencing archival sources of the kind I have used. Therefore I have adopted The National Archives of the UK preferred citation style for archival references taken from this collection and a modified form of this citation style in relation to the National Archives of Malta. For the sake of brevity I have abbreviated the references to the newspapers contained in the footnotes and a List of Abbreviations is provided. This research has been conducted on a part-time basis and a number of personal and practical factors, as well as academic decisions, have influenced the direction this research has taken. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Maureen Cain and Dr Katherine Doolin, for the valuable guidance and support they have provided. I would also like to thank His Excellency, Dr Michael Refalo, High Commissioner of Malta (now retired) for his interest in this research. In addition to this, for the practi cal guidance I received in connection with data collection in Malta, I would like to thank Mr Charles Farrugia, National Archivist at the National Archives of Malta and his helpful Archive Officers, as well as Ms Maroma Camilleri, Senior Assistant Librarian at the National Library of Malta. The assistance of Mr David Formosa, who provided Maltese and Italian translations for use in this thesis, is gratefully acknowledged. I would like to thank my husband for his continuing encouragement and support throughout. Finally, thank you to my daughter for being so understanding! The provision of funding from the College of Arts and Law Postgraduate Research Support Fund is gratefully acknowledged. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1 Research Aims ........................................................................................................................ 5 Overview of Chapters ............................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 2: POLICING IN THE COLONIES: A CRITICAL REVIEW ...................... 9 Introduction............................................................................................................................. 9 Approaches to Colonial Policing .......................................................................................... 10 Themes Emerging from the Organisational Studies ............................................................. 11 Studies of Particular Incidents .............................................................................................. 18 The Maltese Colonial Police ................................................................................................. 22 Conclusions........................................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................ 32 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 32 Theoretical Influences........................................................................................................... 33 Methods of Data Collection .................................................................................................. 42 The National Archives, Kew, London .................................................................................. 43 Data Collection in Malta ....................................................................................................... 48 Maltese Contacts ................................................................................................................... 48 The National Archives of Malta ........................................................................................... 50 The National Library of Malta .............................................................................................. 54 Data Organisation ................................................................................................................. 60 Theoretical Analysis of Data ................................................................................................ 61 Practicalities of Analysis and Writing-up ............................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 4: DRAMATIS PERSONAE: THE AUDIBLE VOICES .............................. 66 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 66 The Official Voices ............................................................................................................... 66 The Aristocrats...................................................................................................................... 76 Middle-Class Voices ............................................................................................................. 86 The Subaltern Maltese .......................................................................................................... 93 Concluding Comments ......................................................................................................... 97 6 CHAPTER 5: THE BACKGROUND TO AND CAUSES OF THE DISORDER ........... 98 Introduction: Attard’s Account ............................................................................................. 98 The Public Opinion Account ................................................................................................ 99 The Constitutional Context in May 1891 ........................................................................ 102 Subaltern
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