We cannot ignore Sir John Hookham Frere. His marble bust is at the national library and only someone distinguished and with excellent credentials, especially a foreigner,  would have his bust there.    The Right Honourable John Hookham Frere was indeed  remarkable and justly remembered by the people of Malta. According to Josephine Tyndale Biscoe's Villa Frere: A Lost Maltese Garden Rediscovered  Frere was educated at Eton and Caius College, Cambridge. Mrs Tyndale Biscoe's grandmother played, as a child, in that garden hence her interest and the book.

 "In 1899, Frere was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Lisbon. Following a two-year period there, Frere was transferred to Madrid." He had become unpopular in London "and in 1808 he was again sent to Spain as Plenipotentiary to the Central Junta. The disastrous British retreat from Madrid to Corunna, in which Sir John Wood was killed, reflected badly on Hookham Frere, who had advised the British to withdraw. After public outcry he was recalled and his diplomatic life effectively ended at this time. He must have been very dissatisfied with his treatment as he twice declined a Peerage  and also refused to accept the post of Ambassador in St Petersburg.  After his marriage in 1816, aged 46 he came to live in Malta in 1821 with his Irish wife..."

But let me digress a little. To me Corunna has always meant the famous poem by Charles Woolf The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna (1817). We learnt the poem at school and I remember it well as I still find it so very sad and unfair and still shed a tear whenever I read it.

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
    As his corpse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
    O'er the grave where our hero was buried.

 

We buried him darkly at dead of night,
    The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light
    And the lantern dimly burning....

 

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
    From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
    But we left him alone with his glory!"

This was a clandestine interment after Sir John was killed in battle in 1809. This poem conveys a quiet sadness and a deep sense of nostalgia.

 

I have visited the Villa Frere garden a number of times. 'In Ancient times' as my daughters would have it, sometimes Dr Donald Sultana, eventually Professor of English,  would give me a lift as I was waiting for a bus on my way to the old university  in Valletta, where I worked. On at least two occasions, he would slow down his car as we approached HMS Forth at the time berthed there. He would point out the red building and say: "A famous man, lived there, Sir John Hookham Frere" and would add something about the owner of the house. It didn't mean much to me, at the time, but now it does. Life's rich tapestry.

Last Sunday the gardens were open to the public. They open every first Sunday of the month. I persuaded an old school friend who hadn't yet visited to come with me. We made a flask of tea and another of coffee and some light bites and set off, on that wonderful sunny February day. There were crowds of people, admiring the gardens and restored buildings. I saw this year's first narcissus there...bunches of it growing and looking happy. Almost half my tribe had turned up, bringing children and dogs along.

I spoke to Perit Edward Said who started it all. His interest in this garden grew after presenting a Masters thesis on Villa Frere at the University of Bath. He eventually managed to interest a band of volunteers, who have done marvels and work there regularly.

I asked him for a comment. He obliged with the following: "The 20s have been increasingly busy yet rewarding so far, yielding results including the designation of all that survives of the Villa and its gardens as a Grade 1 national monument, after we raised red flags to the authorities about surrounding threatening development. Our collaboration with Heritage Malta has strengthened further since our initial agreement in 2018. HM has helped us bolster public awareness, with many now following us on social media and attending our monthly open days which are an important lifeline of funding our ambitious restoration projects as well as the constant daily maintenance and gardening chores. We have a small yet dedicated community of volunteers who spare many hours of their Saturdays to help out. Last Sunday was nothing short of historic for us with over 800 visitors, most of them first-timers coming to see Villa Frere. This year augurs to be an auspicious one as we hope."

 

I also spoke with the Curator, Fernando Mifsud, who knows all about plants and whose father and brother too, are hard-working volunteers. The Friends of Villa Frere group was started in 2014.  "Yes as Edward said before me Sunday was a big record. In the past year we have been focusing mainly on the restoration of both Villa Hay and the gardeners cottage. In the gardeners cottage we managed to do a lot of structural works especially when it comes to 'pointing' and also re doing the balustrade on the roof and rebuilding the garigor leading to the roof. We worked on the internal doors of Villa Hay, 'pointing' of both the outside and inside of the building and we are now looking at furnishing the building as well. We also finished a small Chapel in the orchard and continued embellishing the gardens with several plants, trees and ornamental pots."

It was a most pleasant afternoon. Afterwards I realised that one could purchase a mug of hot tea on the premises.
They also have many more plants for sale than they had last time I went. When the wind has killed the lot I now have on my balconies, then I shall buy another lot from Villa Frere. My enthusiasm for anything green is there alright but if only I possessed a couple of Fernando's green fingers.

Thank goodness proposals to build blocks of flats and hotels were turned down. This is a project which is truly worth supporting. 

 

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