LIFE& WELLBEING HISTORY

View showing the existing buildings Proposed new build'inp farlhe of the Malta Protestant College. Malta Protestant Cottege.

Even in i~ present state the Protestant College - now known as Villa St Ignatius - is still an exceptional building.

He was a Sicilian lawyer who had sought refuge in Malta, acting two decades before as a consular agent of the Sicilian provisional government. In September 1846, the two witnesses at the marriage John Watson's 'Belvedere' and of William Hunt and Maria Anna Bonavia were William Watson and Caroline Watson. Was he the 'M. Watson' at 161, Strada Britannica, in 1845? When William's wife died in 1843 he was a direc­ tor of the Malta Infant School which opened its doors to boys and girls on August 2, 1841, under the the Malta Pro.testant College patronage of Queen Adelaide and the auspices of the government of Malta. It was at 9, Sda Scozzese · Brazilian cotton plant for the first time in Malta. Generate Maltese was fonned to submit Malta's (now Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street}, Valletta. The sys­ The whole development cost £5,000. grievances to the Royal Commission of 1836, tem adopted was that prevailing in Great Britain. For some unknown reason he decided he took an active part With the Maltese in sup- Within one month, 150 pupils were attending the within a few years to dispose of his investment, porting their cause. At one stage the com­ school, the boys being outnumbered by the gii-ls. It if so it was. The estate came up for a judicial mittee wished to arrange a meeting with was run by Jane Shippard and her sister. ALBERT GANADO sale by auction (subasta} on June 28,1830 Governor Frederick Ponsonby (1827- under the authority of the First Hall of 1836}. Watson was the emissary. the Civil Court. Was the sale provoked According to a manuscript note at the instance of creditors? Whatever in the records of the comitato, "Watson was not only One of the earliest British merchants who the case, the sale was not proceeded when Watson met the Gover­ came to Malta in the early 19th century was with or the bidding did not reach the nor, Ponsonby feigned to be interested in making Asia, Africa and southern Europe. There were from 1812 to 1862. This time, no scisa was paid in John Watson, who made a name for himself estimated value. unaware of the committee some 100 million iilhabitants in the east still living Malta. In 1855, the college published in two volumes on the island and, in a special way, in the his­ Over a year later, on July 20, and asked Watson what was money, but he took an in ignorance and degradation. the journal of a deputation sent to the east by the tory of St Julian's. Although he was a promi­ 1831!, an advert appeared in the its nature: "Who are they, active part in the fortunes The missionary spirit of Protestantism in committee of the Malta Protestant College in 1849. nent citizen of Malta, very little has been writ­ Malta Government Gazette, offer­ are they poor or rich?" Wat­ Malta took root, and the choice fell on the large Facing the title page of volume one there is a litho­ ten about him and his family. From various ing for sale "The clever and son rejoined that the com­ of our native land" grounds of Watson's estate in St Julian's for the graph with an extensive view of the college signed sources, I have tried to produce some tesserae well-known pony" named mittee was composed of erection of the Protestant College. At some stage, by 'Day & Son, Lith.rs to the Queen'. It is titled 'View of his chequered existence. Smut, admirable in all its some of the most perhaps even in the late 1830s, negotiations with Shewing (sic} the Existing Buildings of The Malta Watson was born in Preston, Lancashire, a paces, and as sound as a suck­ respectable men of the is­ William Watson resided in 1849 at 8, Strada Watson started. They must have taken a long Protestant College' (107 x 172mm}. centre for the cotton industry, the son of John ling foal. Any interested per­ land and men of property. Scozzese, next to the infant school. Much later, in time because of the absence from Malta of some The mission attained a good measure of suc­ Watson Senior. His wife, Elizabeth Pilkington, son was to contact Watson, at Ponsonb~togetherwith 1873, a William Watson, probably William's son, of the co-owners, all family members. cess. In 1849 it housed inhabitants from Egypt, bore him eight children- seven sons and one Villa Belvedere. On August 4, the chief secretary, Fred­ was advertised as a bookseller and stationer at Eventually, the sale of the house, gardens and Abyssinia, some districts of Eastern Africa, Pales­ daughter: Richard Henry, Shuttilworth Myers, 1831, together with one of his erick Hankey, told Watson 2tl8, Strada Reale, and also as a perfumer and fields called the 'Belvedere' in St Julian's was tine, Syria, Persia, Arabia, Tartary, Mesopotamia, William; Samuel Woodhouse, Octavious Peter sons, he left for Tripoli on the he did not thlnk he could yacht agent in 1879 and the 1880s. By 1889 he had signed on October 22, 1844, enrolled in the Asia Minor, Armenia, Turkey-in-Europe, Greece Lowe, Henry Barton, Julian Adolphus and Austrian Pilego Ronco, most interfere with the inquiry taken over the flourishing business of "the late records of Notary John Assenza, active in and other Mediterranean countries. Due to the Josepha Mary Elizabeth. He came to Malta in likely on a business venture. going before the Commis­ George Muir". An advert in the Daily Malta Chron­ Cospicua from 1828 to 1850. The property was rapid increase of pupils and the necessity to 1806 or thereabout, aged 31. Watson was not only inter­ sioners (John Austin and icle of July 8, 1902, reads that Messrs Watson & described by architect Paolo Attard on coloured enlarge the original premises, the college had to During the Napoleonic wars, England placed ested in making money, but he George Cornewall Lewis} or Co. and L. Critien at Sda S. Giovanni, and J. Critien plans 'N and 'B' attached to the deed. borrow £2,500 to cover in part the expenses all French territories in Europe under blockade, took an active partin the fortunes see the committee till the in Sda Reale were selling Governor Grenfell's The estate was sold as subject to an annual per­ incurred for alteration of buildings. ~ known as the 'Continental Blockade'. This of our native land. He was certainly inquiry was closed. booklet on Malta in 1798, with the proceeds of the petual ground rent of £1.13.4, or 20 scud~ and the Besides, small houses contiguous to the original brought about a sudden influx of British mer­ one of the main promoters of the During this period Watson sale going to local charities. sale price amounted to £2,500, or 30,000 scudi. college premises had been purchased or rented. chants to Malta from Mediterranean countries. 1821 petition of merchants and inhab­ had become a bookseller with the All the costs of the deed and the duty (scisa} However, these were only capable of creating room They planned to open flourishing commercial itants of the Maltese islands drawn up firm name Watson & Co., at 241, payable to the Collector of Land Revenue, for a limited increase in the number of pupils, and houses, a source of considerable prosperity for to be sent to the House of Commons Sda Reale, Valletta, moving later to The sale of'Belvedere' amounting to 600 scudi, were to be borne by the they were situated at some distance from the main them and the islanders. Besides, they were all complaining of the maladministration of number 278. He passed away on July 2, When thejudicial sale by auction of John Watson's vendors, namely, Watson and all his children. building, exposing pupils to the rains of winter and aware that Malta had the best lazaretto in the the local colonial set-up. 1848, at Santa Venera, leaving seven sons estate at St Julian's failed to go through, he had to The keys were to be delivered to the purchaser the intense heat of summer. Mediterranean, which unfortunately did not The petitioners regretted that they had for and a daughter. He was buried at the Msida seek other avenues to get rid of his valuable prop­ on January 1, 1845, to give the Watsons time to These and other considerations led to the plan­ scare off the terrible plague of 1813. some years experienced great distress and Bastion Cemetery. erty. After a long wait of over a decade, the project empty the premises. Unless there was a separate ning of new buildings, devised to include the exist­ Watson soon joined hands with John Wright, been subjected to serious evils in conse­ By that time some members of the family of establishing in the Central Mediterranean a hub additional agreement drawn up in England, the ing building, to provide accommodation for a fur­ but their partnership was dissolved in 1818. He quence of certain defects in the Constitution A Mohammedan Turkish family who were were living abroad. Julian Adolphus had gone of Protestant propaganda became a reality. vendors must have lost a substantial amount of ther 100 students, a library, museum, a chemical was one of the British mercantile agents in of the civil government. This led to a state of baptised at the Malta Protestant College. to Constantinople, while William, whose In 1845, the Malta Protestant College was created. money on the deal. laboratory, workshops, printing premises, apart­ 1822, and by 1829 he had acquired an interest affairs most unfavourable to Great Britain wife, Margaret, had died of consumption on Its constitution was published in London by Alex The property was bought by Henry Innes, HM ments for officials and visitors, and a chapel. The in the Malta Tanning Company at Marsa, when compared to Malta's prosperity under January 3, 1843, aged 22, had moved to Cal­ Macintosh of Great New Street. It was founded in Dockyard employment officer of P.&O. Co., for and cost of the new buildings was estimated at £18,000. together with the well-known writer Thomas the Order of StJohn; then the inhabitants over the island; the re-establishment of the cutta. In that year Samuel was registered as Malta a year later. A detailed study of the college on behalf of Lachlan Mackintosh Rate, a merchant The huge project was shown on a lithograph Mac Gill and two others. Truly, Malta had been were happy and contented. Board of Health which had been abolished by a broker at Strada San Antonio, Valletta. was compiled by Salvatore Mallia and published in of Bishopsgate Street, London, represented on the signed by T. Picken, published by Day & Son, meas­ 'discoveredI by the British mercantile body. Instead of creating an adequate revenue, Governor Sir Thomas Maitland; and the abo­ Octavius Peter married Matilde Balbi on July Melita Historica in 1990. deed by Savery Pinsent of London, residing in uring 107 x 172mm, facing the title page of the sec­ Through his business acumen Watson became the government of Malta was a sinecure, a lition of the monopoly of corn, which had 26, 1846. Henry Barton had gone eastwards. The idea of an English Protestant College in the Malta, "desirous of investing £4,000 in property ond volume. The picture was titled 'Proposed New one of the richest merchants on the island. source of patronage, or a step to preferment. forced the lower classes to have recourse to On January 2, 1841, Shuttilworth Myers Mediterranean had first been broached by the in Malta". Although not stated in the deed of trans­ Buildings for The Malta Protestant College'. Around 1827 he acquired the lands named Ta' The inhabitants were deprived of their just barley and Indian corn as substitutes because started business as a licensed auctioneer and Marquess of Hastings, Earl of Moira, in a conver­ fer, Rate was acting as a trustee on behalf of the After several vicissitudes, the college closed Mela il-Kirxa at St Julian's from the autonomous weight in the management of their own of the high monopoly price of wheat. appraiser, together with Edward McKenzie, sation with the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury in Italy. college board of trustees, made up of the Rt. Hon. down, it seems, after July 1865. On March 26, Confraternita della Consolazione erected in the affairs, and carefully excluded from all offices The petition was signed by "all the British and at 43, Strada Zaccaria, Valletta. In 1847 he Hastings died in 1826. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Rt. Hon. Earl of 1872, the trustees sold the property to Dr church of St Augustine in Valletta. The lands of honour, trust or profit, which brought native merchants, and by people of great was still in Malta as he signed as a witness to It was only in the early 1840s that a 'provisional Shaftesbury, and others, but the trustees became Pasquale Mifsud (1833-1895}, later a judge, and were subject to an annual perpetual ground about misery and discontent. respectability on the island''. The local author­ the marriage of John Roon Stocker and Gio­ committee' was formed by some 40 philanthropic legal owners only seven years later. Carlo Maria Muscat, merchant and member of rent of nine scudi (around 16s. 8d.}. He built a In conclusion, they formulated under three ities did their level best to checkmate the peti­ vanna Balbi, Matilde's sister. gentlemen under the chairmanship of Shaftes­ Construction went on apace and the Malta the Council of Government, for the sum of large villa with a coach house and surrounded main headings the remedies that were to be tion by playing on the hopes of some and the Mary Elizabeth Watson married Captain bury. It considered that the island of Malta was Protestant College was opened onFebruary3, 1846, £2,200. The new college, dedicated to St Ignatius, the whole estate of about eight fields with high applied in order to restore to the suffering fear of others. Of the very numerous appen­ George Griffin, RN, serving in 1814 on HMS the ideal place that offered, the greatest advan­ although it was soon faced with various conflicting opened as a Jesuit boarding school in November walls that obstructed the view from outside. population any proportion of its former pros­ dices with the petition, only that marked 'N' Impregnable, and went to England. Presum­ tages for siting such a college. Its very central difficulties. Five years later, by deed of conveyance 1877, almost a century-and-a-half ago. He was a great promoter of agriculture and, perity. These were: the formation of a Council was published, together with the petition of ably, she soon became a widow and returned position, as the advanced post of the west and the signed in London on June 20,1851, Rate transferred It is interesting·to note that the scholar Thomas according to his obituary notice, he established · or Colonial Assembly, without whose sanc­ 1836, by George Mitrovich. to Malta, where she married Ignazio Pom­ key to the east, being the principal channel of the said property to the trustees. The deed was reg­ Walford came to teach in the new college, and, as himself at the villa, named 'Belvedere', for tion no laws could be promulgated, or any Watson was described as a charitable, peiano. The licence to celebrate her mixed commwlication between Europe and Asia, would istered in Malta on September 10, 1851, in the Carmel Baldacchino wrote lately, it was he who the purpose of rearing and introducing the taxes imposed, with the duty of watching upright and honest man. When the Comitato marriage was issued on February 9, 1847. enable it to become the ideal site for evangelising records of Notary Charles Curry, active in Valletta introduced football to the Maltese. LIFE& WELLBEING HISTORY

View showing the existing buildings Proposed new build'inp farlhe of the Malta Protestant College. Malta Protestant Cottege.

Even in i~ present state the Protestant College - now known as Villa St Ignatius - is still an exceptional building.

He was a Sicilian lawyer who had sought refuge in Malta, acting two decades before as a consular agent of the Sicilian provisional government. In September 1846, the two witnesses at the marriage John Watson's 'Belvedere' and of William Hunt and Maria Anna Bonavia were William Watson and Caroline Watson. Was he the 'M. Watson' at 161, Strada Britannica, in 1845? When William's wife died in 1843 he was a direc­ tor of the Malta Infant School which opened its doors to boys and girls on August 2, 1841, under the the Malta Pro.testant College patronage of Queen Adelaide and the auspices of the government of Malta. It was at 9, Sda Scozzese · Brazilian cotton plant for the first time in Malta. Generate Maltese was fonned to submit Malta's (now Mikiel Anton Vassalli Street}, Valletta. The sys­ The whole development cost £5,000. grievances to the Royal Commission of 1836, tem adopted was that prevailing in Great Britain. For some unknown reason he decided he took an active part With the Maltese in sup- Within one month, 150 pupils were attending the within a few years to dispose of his investment, porting their cause. At one stage the com­ school, the boys being outnumbered by the gii-ls. It if so it was. The estate came up for a judicial mittee wished to arrange a meeting with was run by Jane Shippard and her sister. ALBERT GANADO sale by auction (subasta} on June 28,1830 Governor Frederick Ponsonby (1827- under the authority of the First Hall of 1836}. Watson was the emissary. the Civil Court. Was the sale provoked According to a manuscript note at the instance of creditors? Whatever in the records of the comitato, "Watson was not only One of the earliest British merchants who the case, the sale was not proceeded when Watson met the Gover­ came to Malta in the early 19th century was with or the bidding did not reach the nor, Ponsonby feigned to be interested in making Asia, Africa and southern Europe. There were from 1812 to 1862. This time, no scisa was paid in John Watson, who made a name for himself estimated value. unaware of the committee some 100 million iilhabitants in the east still living Malta. In 1855, the college published in two volumes on the island and, in a special way, in the his­ Over a year later, on July 20, and asked Watson what was money, but he took an in ignorance and degradation. the journal of a deputation sent to the east by the tory of St Julian's. Although he was a promi­ 1831!, an advert appeared in the its nature: "Who are they, active part in the fortunes The missionary spirit of Protestantism in committee of the Malta Protestant College in 1849. nent citizen of Malta, very little has been writ­ Malta Government Gazette, offer­ are they poor or rich?" Wat­ Malta took root, and the choice fell on the large Facing the title page of volume one there is a litho­ ten about him and his family. From various ing for sale "The clever and son rejoined that the com­ of our native land" grounds of Watson's estate in St Julian's for the graph with an extensive view of the college signed sources, I have tried to produce some tesserae well-known pony" named mittee was composed of erection of the Protestant College. At some stage, by 'Day & Son, Lith.rs to the Queen'. It is titled 'View of his chequered existence. Smut, admirable in all its some of the most perhaps even in the late 1830s, negotiations with Shewing (sic} the Existing Buildings of The Malta Watson was born in Preston, Lancashire, a paces, and as sound as a suck­ respectable men of the is­ William Watson resided in 1849 at 8, Strada Watson started. They must have taken a long Protestant College' (107 x 172mm}. centre for the cotton industry, the son of John ling foal. Any interested per­ land and men of property. Scozzese, next to the infant school. Much later, in time because of the absence from Malta of some The mission attained a good measure of suc­ Watson Senior. His wife, Elizabeth Pilkington, son was to contact Watson, at Ponsonb~togetherwith 1873, a William Watson, probably William's son, of the co-owners, all family members. cess. In 1849 it housed inhabitants from Egypt, bore him eight children- seven sons and one Villa Belvedere. On August 4, the chief secretary, Fred­ was advertised as a bookseller and stationer at Eventually, the sale of the house, gardens and Abyssinia, some districts of Eastern Africa, Pales­ daughter: Richard Henry, Shuttilworth Myers, 1831, together with one of his erick Hankey, told Watson 2tl8, Strada Reale, and also as a perfumer and fields called the 'Belvedere' in St Julian's was tine, Syria, Persia, Arabia, Tartary, Mesopotamia, William; Samuel Woodhouse, Octavious Peter sons, he left for Tripoli on the he did not thlnk he could yacht agent in 1879 and the 1880s. By 1889 he had signed on October 22, 1844, enrolled in the Asia Minor, Armenia, Turkey-in-Europe, Greece Lowe, Henry Barton, Julian Adolphus and Austrian Pilego Ronco, most interfere with the inquiry taken over the flourishing business of "the late records of Notary John Assenza, active in and other Mediterranean countries. Due to the Josepha Mary Elizabeth. He came to Malta in likely on a business venture. going before the Commis­ George Muir". An advert in the Daily Malta Chron­ Cospicua from 1828 to 1850. The property was rapid increase of pupils and the necessity to 1806 or thereabout, aged 31. Watson was not only inter­ sioners (John Austin and icle of July 8, 1902, reads that Messrs Watson & described by architect Paolo Attard on coloured enlarge the original premises, the college had to During the Napoleonic wars, England placed ested in making money, but he George Cornewall Lewis} or Co. and L. Critien at Sda S. Giovanni, and J. Critien plans 'N and 'B' attached to the deed. borrow £2,500 to cover in part the expenses all French territories in Europe under blockade, took an active partin the fortunes see the committee till the in Sda Reale were selling Governor Grenfell's The estate was sold as subject to an annual per­ incurred for alteration of buildings. ~ known as the 'Continental Blockade'. This of our native land. He was certainly inquiry was closed. booklet on Malta in 1798, with the proceeds of the petual ground rent of £1.13.4, or 20 scud~ and the Besides, small houses contiguous to the original brought about a sudden influx of British mer­ one of the main promoters of the During this period Watson sale going to local charities. sale price amounted to £2,500, or 30,000 scudi. college premises had been purchased or rented. chants to Malta from Mediterranean countries. 1821 petition of merchants and inhab­ had become a bookseller with the All the costs of the deed and the duty (scisa} However, these were only capable of creating room They planned to open flourishing commercial itants of the Maltese islands drawn up firm name Watson & Co., at 241, payable to the Collector of Land Revenue, for a limited increase in the number of pupils, and houses, a source of considerable prosperity for to be sent to the House of Commons Sda Reale, Valletta, moving later to The sale of'Belvedere' amounting to 600 scudi, were to be borne by the they were situated at some distance from the main them and the islanders. Besides, they were all complaining of the maladministration of number 278. He passed away on July 2, When thejudicial sale by auction of John Watson's vendors, namely, Watson and all his children. building, exposing pupils to the rains of winter and aware that Malta had the best lazaretto in the the local colonial set-up. 1848, at Santa Venera, leaving seven sons estate at St Julian's failed to go through, he had to The keys were to be delivered to the purchaser the intense heat of summer. Mediterranean, which unfortunately did not The petitioners regretted that they had for and a daughter. He was buried at the Msida seek other avenues to get rid of his valuable prop­ on January 1, 1845, to give the Watsons time to These and other considerations led to the plan­ scare off the terrible plague of 1813. some years experienced great distress and Bastion Cemetery. erty. After a long wait of over a decade, the project empty the premises. Unless there was a separate ning of new buildings, devised to include the exist­ Watson soon joined hands with John Wright, been subjected to serious evils in conse­ By that time some members of the family of establishing in the Central Mediterranean a hub additional agreement drawn up in England, the ing building, to provide accommodation for a fur­ but their partnership was dissolved in 1818. He quence of certain defects in the Constitution A Mohammedan Turkish family who were were living abroad. Julian Adolphus had gone of Protestant propaganda became a reality. vendors must have lost a substantial amount of ther 100 students, a library, museum, a chemical was one of the British mercantile agents in of the civil government. This led to a state of baptised at the Malta Protestant College. to Constantinople, while William, whose In 1845, the Malta Protestant College was created. money on the deal. laboratory, workshops, printing premises, apart­ 1822, and by 1829 he had acquired an interest affairs most unfavourable to Great Britain wife, Margaret, had died of consumption on Its constitution was published in London by Alex The property was bought by Henry Innes, HM ments for officials and visitors, and a chapel. The in the Malta Tanning Company at Marsa, when compared to Malta's prosperity under January 3, 1843, aged 22, had moved to Cal­ Macintosh of Great New Street. It was founded in Dockyard employment officer of P.&O. Co., for and cost of the new buildings was estimated at £18,000. together with the well-known writer Thomas the Order of StJohn; then the inhabitants over the island; the re-establishment of the cutta. In that year Samuel was registered as Malta a year later. A detailed study of the college on behalf of Lachlan Mackintosh Rate, a merchant The huge project was shown on a lithograph Mac Gill and two others. Truly, Malta had been were happy and contented. Board of Health which had been abolished by a broker at Strada San Antonio, Valletta. was compiled by Salvatore Mallia and published in of Bishopsgate Street, London, represented on the signed by T. Picken, published by Day & Son, meas­ 'discoveredI by the British mercantile body. Instead of creating an adequate revenue, Governor Sir Thomas Maitland; and the abo­ Octavius Peter married Matilde Balbi on July Melita Historica in 1990. deed by Savery Pinsent of London, residing in uring 107 x 172mm, facing the title page of the sec­ Through his business acumen Watson became the government of Malta was a sinecure, a lition of the monopoly of corn, which had 26, 1846. Henry Barton had gone eastwards. The idea of an English Protestant College in the Malta, "desirous of investing £4,000 in property ond volume. The picture was titled 'Proposed New one of the richest merchants on the island. source of patronage, or a step to preferment. forced the lower classes to have recourse to On January 2, 1841, Shuttilworth Myers Mediterranean had first been broached by the in Malta". Although not stated in the deed of trans­ Buildings for The Malta Protestant College'. Around 1827 he acquired the lands named Ta' The inhabitants were deprived of their just barley and Indian corn as substitutes because started business as a licensed auctioneer and Marquess of Hastings, Earl of Moira, in a conver­ fer, Rate was acting as a trustee on behalf of the After several vicissitudes, the college closed Mela il-Kirxa at St Julian's from the autonomous weight in the management of their own of the high monopoly price of wheat. appraiser, together with Edward McKenzie, sation with the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury in Italy. college board of trustees, made up of the Rt. Hon. down, it seems, after July 1865. On March 26, Confraternita della Consolazione erected in the affairs, and carefully excluded from all offices The petition was signed by "all the British and at 43, Strada Zaccaria, Valletta. In 1847 he Hastings died in 1826. Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Rt. Hon. Earl of 1872, the trustees sold the property to Dr church of St Augustine in Valletta. The lands of honour, trust or profit, which brought native merchants, and by people of great was still in Malta as he signed as a witness to It was only in the early 1840s that a 'provisional Shaftesbury, and others, but the trustees became Pasquale Mifsud (1833-1895}, later a judge, and were subject to an annual perpetual ground about misery and discontent. respectability on the island''. The local author­ the marriage of John Roon Stocker and Gio­ committee' was formed by some 40 philanthropic legal owners only seven years later. Carlo Maria Muscat, merchant and member of rent of nine scudi (around 16s. 8d.}. He built a In conclusion, they formulated under three ities did their level best to checkmate the peti­ vanna Balbi, Matilde's sister. gentlemen under the chairmanship of Shaftes­ Construction went on apace and the Malta the Council of Government, for the sum of large villa with a coach house and surrounded main headings the remedies that were to be tion by playing on the hopes of some and the Mary Elizabeth Watson married Captain bury. It considered that the island of Malta was Protestant College was opened onFebruary3, 1846, £2,200. The new college, dedicated to St Ignatius, the whole estate of about eight fields with high applied in order to restore to the suffering fear of others. Of the very numerous appen­ George Griffin, RN, serving in 1814 on HMS the ideal place that offered, the greatest advan­ although it was soon faced with various conflicting opened as a Jesuit boarding school in November walls that obstructed the view from outside. population any proportion of its former pros­ dices with the petition, only that marked 'N' Impregnable, and went to England. Presum­ tages for siting such a college. Its very central difficulties. Five years later, by deed of conveyance 1877, almost a century-and-a-half ago. He was a great promoter of agriculture and, perity. These were: the formation of a Council was published, together with the petition of ably, she soon became a widow and returned position, as the advanced post of the west and the signed in London on June 20,1851, Rate transferred It is interesting·to note that the scholar Thomas according to his obituary notice, he established · or Colonial Assembly, without whose sanc­ 1836, by George Mitrovich. to Malta, where she married Ignazio Pom­ key to the east, being the principal channel of the said property to the trustees. The deed was reg­ Walford came to teach in the new college, and, as himself at the villa, named 'Belvedere', for tion no laws could be promulgated, or any Watson was described as a charitable, peiano. The licence to celebrate her mixed commwlication between Europe and Asia, would istered in Malta on September 10, 1851, in the Carmel Baldacchino wrote lately, it was he who the purpose of rearing and introducing the taxes imposed, with the duty of watching upright and honest man. When the Comitato marriage was issued on February 9, 1847. enable it to become the ideal site for evangelising records of Notary Charles Curry, active in Valletta introduced football to the Maltese.