The Maltese Light Infantry
Following the popular uprising against the French on September 2 1798, the Maltese were subjected to the full horrors of land warfare in their country. Having suffered untold sacrifices both in human lives and property, they fully understood their vulnerable position in hostile and uncertain surrounding world. They soon came to the conclusion that only Britain was in a more advantageous position of power and wealth to help them in their predicament. They knew that the kingdom of Naples was weak and so the Maltese Assembly placed themselves under the protection of Britain and elected as their chief a British officer, Captain Alexander Ball R.N. The British government also sent Colonel Graham, later Lord Lynedock K.C.B. to their assistance with two battalions – the 30th Foot (later to become 1st Bn East Lancashire Regt.) and the 89th Foot ( 2nd Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers) under command, totalling 952 officers and men.
By the end of December 1799, the bulk of the 30th regiment was stationed at Zejtun, with advanced posts at Zabbar, co-manned with the Maltese forces and the battery at St.Roque close to the coast. On their left were the men of the 89th at Gudja and Luqa, with advanced posts at Tarxien and responsibility for the battery in front of it. Next came the Marines and the rest of the Maltese insurgents completing the encirclement of the French forces in Valletta and the Cottonera Forts Ricasoli, Manoel and Tigne, were they had taken refuge in September 1798, after the Maltese uprising. The French numbered some 4,000 – 5000 armed men including the crews of the ships and other Frenchmen.
General Fox sent Lieut-Colonel Lindenthal, of the Sicilian regiment, to Malta, on the 6th December, with instructions to make an assessment of the situation and report back to him directly. By the 10th December Lindenthal had carried out a rapid survey and sent the following letter expressing his views:
“The forces forming the blockade by land at that time consisted of:
Two regiments of infantry……….800 men
Marines…………………………..400 men
Maltese soldiers………………….1,500 men
In case of a general attack they may depend on 1,000 more armed Maltese. It is a pity we have not thought of forming this poor people into regiments; they are so very much attached to us, and have really performed wonders.
The articles most wanted at present are a detachment of artillery, consisting of at least 3 officers and 50 men. There is at present only one officer here, Lieut. Vivion”
General Fox was reluctant to send more troops to Malta in spite of Graham’s repeated requests. With insufficient men to plan an attack against the French, and no indication of further British troops arriving from Minorca, Graham proceeded with the plan of raising a regiment of Maltese. British policy on the subsidising, enlistment or employment of foreign troops had been confused.
In 1800 Graham set forth to raise the Maltese light Infantry as the first regiment in pay of the British Army. Even more notable was the fact that in this, endeavour he was assisted by Admiral Lord Nelson himself, who appointed a Scotsman, Captain James Weir of the Marines from HMS Audacious, to command it.
Recruiting amongst the Maltese was slow from the beginning of April till the middle of May 1800 only four companies were formed, with another four in the process of being formed. Officers from from the 30th, Lieutenants William E. Fitzthomas, Philip R. Bulkeley, and Peter Dumas promptly volunteered, as did Sergeant Major Peter Wallace, and Sergeant Robert Thompson. Lieutenants Archibald Campbell acted as Assistant Engineer, until his death on 19th August 1800. Assistant Surgeon P. Campbell of the 89th, also volunteered for the newly formed Corps.
A few weeks later they were joined by Lieutenant Sameul Bircham and Richard Hare of the 30th, with Lieutenants Sameul Hale, Hamilton McGrath, Patrick Agnew, plus ensigns William Cowell and James Brickell of the 89th. By September 1800 Captain Clement Edwards and Lieutenant John Vicary of the 48th were also serving with the Maltese regiment promoting it to a recognisable regular British one.
In an effort to encourage more Maltese to join the Maltese Light Infantry regiment, General Graham issued the following stirring proclamation:
“Brave Maltese – you have rendered yourselves interesting and conspicuous to the world. History affords no more striking example. Betrayed to your invaders, deprived of the means of resistance, eternal slavery seemed to be your inevitable doom. The oppression , the sacrilege of your tyrants became intolerable.
Regardless of consequence, you determined at very hazard to vindicate your wrongs. Without arms, without resources of war, you broke asunder your chains, you called for assistance: the powers acting in alliance for the support of civil society and of religion hastened to your relief: arms, munition, money and corn have been supplied to you. Their ships have intercepted the succours of the enemy. My master the sovereign of a free and generous people sent me with a handful of men to assist you till a powerful force could be prepared for the reduction of Valletta.
To arms then Maltese! Let the universal cry through the island be ‘for God and our country’ who is there deaf to every sense of duty and of honour that will not gladly obey such call?
Quit then your habit of industry for a few weeks: dedicate yourselves under immediate direction of your own officers and under the guidance of those whose professional skill and experience will direct your labours most beneficially to the great and important object of the final conquest of your enemies.
A weak and dispirited garrison unequal to the defence of such extensive works cannot withstand your efforts. Success will reward your toil and you will soon return to the bosoms of your families proud, justly proud of having saved your country.”
The selection of the men to join the regiment observed the procedure of other light infantry regiments that is focussing on the military bearing of the individual, physical stature- minimum height for 15 and 18 years old men was 5 feet 1 inch whilst those over 18 had to be at least 5 feet 3 inches tall. Enlistment was for two years and was open to men aged between 15 years and 30.
More attention was given to handle arms and on shooting proficiency. In fact many of the Maltese whose joined the regiment belonged to the hunter’s community, and having before served in the same role in the Order’s Regiment of Chasseurs or Kaccatori Maltesi ; by which same name the Maltese Lght Infantry was locally known.
The Maltese Light Infantry was formed up of 800 men divided into eight companies of 100 officers and men each. Each of the eight companies of the Maltese Light Infantry consisted of:
1 Captain
1 Lieutenant
1 Second Lieutenant or Ensign
1 Adjutant paid at 7 tari per day
4 Sergeants paid at 5 Tari 10 Grani per day
5 Corporals paid at 4 Tari per day
2 Drummers paid at 4 Tari per day
85 Privates paid at 3 Tari per day.
Bread for the other ranks was issued at 24ozs. Daily per man, and when in barracks, each man was entitled to a quantity of wood for cooking.
The soldiers of the Maltese Light Infantry were issued with two sets of uniforms each, described as follows:
Rankers: ten red covered wooden buttoned, serge, light blue-grey jackets without turnbacks with scarlet facings - collar, cuffs and shoulder straps. This jacket was hip-length single breasted with a wide red Maltese-style sash around waist tying at the back.
Buckskin gaiter-trousers, with 14 buttons per leg.
In summer the coat was made of cotton and its colour like the trousers issue, was nankeen. It was embellished with shoulder strap and epaulettes.
The boots, leather cross belts, hanger sheat, bayonet frog and cartridge box were black.
The headgear consisted of a black/dark grey shako type top hat complete with green infantry plume, held by a black cloth cockade and a dark band.
The personal arms consisted of captured French muskets, bayonets and a short infantry sword, called hanger.
The Regiment was presented with its colours, the describtion of which is as follows:
The King’s colours : The great Union with a large star in the centre, embroidered in gold and silver and having a bugle on red ground with royal cipher G.R. The whole is summoned with a large crown, resembling very much the shape of the crown used by the last Grand Masters of the Order of St.John.
The regimental or second colours is of buff colour with the union in the upper canton, and with the same star in the centre and the regimental initials M.L.I. on red ground. It may be that the buff colour was chosen out of complement to the distinguished commander of the forces Graham, the uniform of his own regiment , the 90th, being faced with buff.
The Regiment went to serve along the blockading forces lines, participating in harassing of French posts along the Cottonera and Ricasoli defences. On June 21st , the battalion took part in a combined attack by the British and Maltese. The attack was meant to exert pressure on the French garrison, now at its end of possible resistance, which commenced with a heavy fire of shot and shell. It continued on the following day, when a serious explosion took place within the city of Valletta. A last powder deposit of the French had blown up, adding to the miseries of those intended to hold on to the city defences.
The Maltese Light Infantry was the only Maltese unit to enter Valletta with the British troops with its colours flying on the 9th September, following the raising of the siege on the 5th September 1800. On this occasion the Battalion was congratulated by General Graham “On the successes which confirms their perseverance and attention to discipline.
As soon as the French Capitulated, a company of a 100 men from the maltese Light Infantry went to garrison Fort Ricasoli, and six other companies were attached to the garrison of Senglea.
Two months later, on 28th November 1800, this same officer writing from Trieste to Right Hon H. Dundas “ With regards to Malta I am well concurred from what I have heard since I left, that that my opinion that benefits to be derived from such a levy as I made was well founded. T therefore hope that the battalion will be confirmed.”
The Regiment was confirmed and was barracked in Fort Manoel with its Headquarters on the Valletta side. The Maltese light infantry was selected to partake in the ceremonial duties of the high profile as those during the occasion of the Funeral of Sir Abercrombie, its detachment parading along St.Christopher street in Valletta, and during the celebrations of the Queen consort birthdays with a detachment at Fort St.Angelo.
Malta was selected as an assembly point, and the built up of ships and men began in the next months.. A force of some 15,000 infantry was to concentrate on the Island. The island had become the hub of British anti-Napoleon activity in the Mediterranean including the invasion of Egypt. When this invasion force left the island, The Maltese light Infantry went on to become part of the Malta garrison together with some 600 men of the Neopolitan infantry and 130 men from the Neopolitan artillery, with men from battalions of the 35th Dorsetshire, 27th Inniskilling, 48th Northamptonshire, 40th Sommersetshire, and Royal Artillery and Navy, totalling 220 officers, 231 sergeants, 99 drummers, and 4252 rank and file.
These troops had to observe strict discipline and carry out guard duties and had field exercises twice a week frequently supervised by Major Pigot himself.
Although it was raised only for service in Malta, on October 11, 1801 it sent three companies of volunteers under the command of Major Weir to Elba, then occupied by the French, to relieve the British garrison besieged in its, Capital, Porto Ferrajo. The 200 Maltese Light Infantry soldiers were forming part of a corps of 1200 men, under the overall command of Colonel Airey.
The French forces had been strengthening its besieging lines and poured in an overwhelming number of troops from the nearby Italian mainland, by them occupied.
The Marines of the fleet and a party of seamen had to attack and try to destroy to destroy the batteries that shut up the port. By this action, they were also to ascertain the forces an eventual takeover of the island will have to face.
The landings were made with success and the batteries round the bay were destroyed but the force not being sufficient it was re-embarked with comparatively little loss having destroyed the batteries of Punta Pinta, the Fortress and Giovanni with great quantity of powder and bringing off into the garrison one hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder and 53 prisoners, including 3 captains and 2 subalterns.
Within a few days the French got new reinforcements and munitions and opened their batteries to fire on the besieged British forces.
The Maltese light infantry were to be part of a force of some 1000 men, which was already known by then to be insufficient, and was to attempt to evict the French and relieve the siege.
The detachment of Maltese Corps which was ordered by Major Pigot to proceed to the island embarked on the morning of the 22nd September on board of HMS Athenian.
Apart from the British, mostly Irish, officers there were the ensigns who were Maltese. One of these subalterns was Marquis Vincenzo de Piro, barely 16 years old son of Marquis Antonio de Piro. Vincenzo was born at Zebbug, Gozo, on the 17th September 1785 and he joined the 1st Company of the MLI 1801. He was to volunteer for active duty in the expedition sent to the capital of Elba, Porto Ferrajo.. The Unit’s Assistant Surgeon was Mr. Fabri, commissioned 2/Lt in 1801.
From their accounts we get to know more details of the Regiment’s actions in this expedition.
The French besieging forces had constructed a network of entrenchments made of earth and gabions some 200 metres away from Poto Ferrajo which was itself defended by bastions and a ditch. The British commander, wanting to remove this threat before the French could bring up artillery, ordered a sortie consisting of three Maltese companies in the lead, followed by companies of the Villot Regiment, the Watteville’s Swiss Regiment and from the Toscan Corps, under Colonel De Bersey. This column crossed the bridge and attacked the French earthworks. They managed to destroy the works, and repulsed an attempt by the French to advance in force.
After a long battle, the French Commander, having received heavy reinforcements, ordered another attack and the British force, heavily outnumbered, was ordered to fall back on Porto Ferrajo. In the withdrawal, the Maltese Light Infantry was ordered to cover the retreat, and thanks to its fighting qualities, it succeeded to stop the advancing French from decimating the British force.
When the survivors, however, arrived near the city ditch, they could not cross over, as it was swollen with water. Those soldiers who could swim had to enter the water, whilst those who could not had to make use of the only small boat available. This proved quite along process until all the non-swimmers had crossed to safety. Meanwhile, the garrison had opened the main gate allowing those who were in the vicinity to enter the city from there. The Maltese soldiers, meanwhile, had to stem the tide of battle by fighting a sharp rear-guard action with the French who had finally to retire under the defensive cannonades of the British guns.
According to witness reports duly signed by a number of sergeants, corporals and men of the 1st Company, MLI and confirmed by the company Commander, Captain Vicary-ensign de Piro – although still very young had shown extraordinary sense of duty regardless of great personal dangers around him in leading his men both during the advance and during withdrawal, disregarding personal safety.
According to these documents when all the companies had reached safety, the last men to cross the ditch by swimming were Captain Vicary, Lieutenant Cocroft and de Piro.
In later attacks, the British combined troops, together with a pioneer company of Swiss Pioneers belonging to Colonel De Bersey’s Pioneer Corps, succeeded to drive off the French and destroy their positions. Amongst the British casualties, which amounted to 24 officers and men, there were two Maltese Light Infantry officers, ensigns Arena and Bartoli wounded during a bayonet charge. The French admitted to 70 officers and men killed and wounded.
During 1802, by a plebiscite, Napoleon was made first consul of France for life and he considered the Treaty of Amiens a success. In Britain the peace was welcomed by the Government and people alike. To save money the armed forces were immediately reduced. The number of men in the army was cut by about fifty percent, whilst the navy shed about 40,000 sailors. The Maltese light infantry regiment was one of these to be disbanded in that year.
By contrast Napoleon maintained his full army, and implemented an ambitious programme of building twenty-five battle ships per year. Soon the short spell of peace which brought about the disbandonment of many regiments, was to be broken.
Many of the men of the Maltese Light Infantry re-enlisted in the Maltese Provincial Battalions which were raised shortly afterwards, and by October 1803 the two battalions of the Maltese Provincial corps had a total strength of approximately 1,00men.
The Regimental Colours of the disbanded Maltese Light Infantry , the two flags already described previously, were presented to Major Weir. In the year 1884 Major Weir’s son –Dr. Thomas Weir of Edinburgh- returned these colours to Sir Arthur Burton, then Governor of Malta, by whom these were presented with the proper military ceremonial to the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery during a parade held on the Palace Square. The Colours were then deposited in the Palace Armoury. An interesting point about these colours is the adsence of St.Patrick’s cross which figured on all King’s Colours after the Union of Ireland with Great Britain in 1800.
References :
C.Testa-The French in Malta
Capt J.M. Wismayer- History of the K.O.M.R.
Rene Chartrand – The foreign Troops in British Service
A.G. Chesney – The Maltese Corps in the British Army
Public Records Office London- Mario Ellul (Royal marines)
Malta Public library
Egar G. Montanaro – Civilisation encyclopedia vol 7