8th Foot in Malta c.1860

[Jeff Mc William]

Hi all. A selection of cabinet cards (some named and marked L.Preziosi 19 Piazza Bretanica, Malta). Hope they are of some interest to the KLR fans :
Capt. Ashley Westly 8th Foot.jpg F.B.I Jerrard 8th Foot.jpg Jas Sawyer 8th Foot.jpg Lt. J.P.Jones 8th Foot c.1860.jpg

[Peter Brydon]

Jeff,
Most interesting thanks. There were I am sure some group photographs from this time in old copies of The Kingsman magazine

I think it was the 6th V.B. Kings Liverpool who had an adjutant who was a regular Kings officer from a Maltese family with homes both on Malta and in Wavertree in Liverpool.

An acquaintance who went on holiday to Malta told me many years ago that the officers full dress uniform was on display in the families home on Malta which is now open to the public at certain times.

Cant find the details at present but will search for the over the next few days.

Peter

Found this after an internet search ( It was NOT my acquaintance who wrote the following )

[I]There is an old private house, the Casa Rocca Piccolo, in Republic Street, Valletta, Malta, which is open to the public. It was there that I first saw the scarlet uniform of Igino de Piro d'Amico, a Captain in the King's Liverpool Regiment. Having once been a member of the same regiment I promised the present Marquis de Piro, a representative of one of the oldest and most illustrious families in Malta, that I would try and trace his grandfather's military career. It was a quest that led to Victoria Park, Wavertree.
Igino was born in 1874 and educated at the Royal University of Malta before joining the King's Liverpool Regiment. He saw active service in the Boer War, taking part in the action at Rietfontain and Lombards Kop in Natal and at the Siege of Ladysmith. When Ladysmith was relieved he served in the Transvaal and was awarded The Queen's Medal with three clasps. On his return from South Africa to Malta, Igino was treated as something of a hero being publicly praised by the Governor, Lord Grenfell and then as The Malta Times records a local carriage was unhorsed and pulled through the streets with Igino riding in it!
Some time after my first visit to the house in Republic Street, Nicholas de Piro discovered his grandfather's Boer War diary in the family archives and also the letters which Igino had written home to his wife from South Africa.
Later Igino was adjutant of the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the King's - a territorial unit based at 59 Everton Road, Liverpool. In 1911, aged 37 and obviously thinking of retiring from the army, he wrote a letter to the Liverpool Watch Committee applying for the vacant post of Deputy Head Constable. His application was unsuccessful but a copy of his letter survives in the family archives addressed from his home: Cloverley, Victoria Park, Wavertree. Mike Chitty kindly identified this for me as the present No. 23 South Drive and earlier this year I sent a photograph of the house to Nicholas de Piro, who wrote back:
"Apart from myself, my ninety year old aunt was delighted with your 'find'. She was born in the very house! She remembers a housemaid called Winnie who wrote to her mother (my grandmother) until the 1940s. My Aunt Monica met Winnie in England when Winnie was old.
"I am told that my grandmother kept a cook, a housemaid and a nanny. Two children were born in Liverpool: Imperia died young and Monica survives. From what I can make out of the period, I gather that a runaway horse caused commotion and Monica's perambulator was toppled but the infant was unhurt …"
Mike Chitty points out that No. 27 South Drive was then called Sliema and occupied by a shipowner, Thomas G Best. Sliema, of course, is across the Grand Harbour from Valletta. Was this double Maltese connection a mere coincidence or were the owners known to one another before Igino came to live in Victoria Park?
After returning to Malta with his family Igino became 7th Baron Budaq, was later elected President of the Senate and also served on the Committee of Privileges of the Maltese Nobility. He represented Malta at the Coronation of King George VI and died in his villa at St Paul's Bay in 1942 during the siege of Malta. He is now buried in the Dominican Monastery at Rabat outside the old Maltese capital of Mdina. Should you visit Malta, call at the Casa Rocca Piccolo and you will see the very uniform that Igino wore when he lived at Victoria Park, Wavertree, nearly a hundred years ago.

[KLR]

I never cease to be amazed by coincidences arising in this Forum.
One of my grandfather's (comm into KLR 1915) greatest friends was a distinguished member of the P family of Malta. When I was a boy we often went there, not just because of the Ps but because my godmother was newly married to a naval officer stationed in M (that tells you how long ago that was !).

[Peter Brydon]

KLR,

The person who went to Malta and saw the Kings uniform in the house in Malta was the old chap from Crewe who used to mount medals, I think I have mentioned him to you in the past ( One of his claims to fame was having remounted the Baskeyfield V.C. group )

The persons who`s notes I copied and pasted above was in fact Alan Waterworth who I think was another friend of your family.

I did not know of your connection with the P family.

Peter

[Peter Brydon]

Not the picture I was thinking about but attached is a picture of "K" company,8th Kings Malta 1867.

P.B.

[Jeff Mc William]

You are very welcome gents, and thank you Peter for the additional information and the picture. Funnily enough, I also lived in Wavertree (14 Heathfield Road) for a little while when I was a lot younger !
According to my information, it looks like the newly formed 2nd Battn met and served with the 1st Battn in Malta during the period 1866-68. Regards Jeff.

[Peter Brydon]

Jeff,

Are you another Scouser then ?

I spent many ( happy is not the word ) hours at the Blue Coat School in Church Road and in fact one of my claims to fame is that we lived for some time in Penny Lane.

Regards

Peter

[Jeff Mc William]

Peter. No, sorry I am not, but my parents and grandparents were. I was just evacuated to Liverpool (of all places) during the war to stay with my grandmother, and our school was bombed to hell ! I got back to London just in time for the "doodlebugs" and, V2's ! I was actually born in Marylebon London and am now a "naturalised" Yorkshire man. All the best Jeff