Would we feel at home if we were transported to Christmas 1905? In this annual series, Greta Borg Carbott returns to the National Library archives to find out.

On a recent Saturday, I decided to escape to the past. Instead of spending half an hour in traffic, I caught the ferry boat from Sliema to Valletta and watched the winter sun glitter on the oily, dark sea. As the boat slid towards the faded yellow bastions and arches at Marsamxetto, it was easy to forget which century I was in.

Avoiding the louder Valletta streets, I dived into the shadows behind the Queen Victoria statue into the National Library, where I could exchange today’s news with the headlines of Christmas one hundred years ago.

Christmas in Valletta and the Sliema countryside

The 1905 Christmas season was generally warm and sunny, with a maximum temperature of 17 degrees Celsius and a light westerly wind on Christmas day. Valletta was teeming with life and the middle-classes had a wide range of activities to choose from.

“Strada Reale and its adjoinings presented an animated appearance and the toy shops, gold smiths, stationers and confectionary establishments were crowded with purchasers,” the Malta Chronicle and Garrison Gazette reports, describing the countdown to Christmas 1905.

“The larger ships in the harbour displayed ever-greens on the mast-head and yard arm according to custom and the mess decks were tastefully decorated for the reception of the captain and his retinue…At the Head-Quarters of the Royal Garrison Artillery, Upper Saint Elmo and other forts, the rooms were handsomely decorated and tables liberally furnished.”

That Christmas, Italian opera singers were invited to perform Donizetti’s comic opera ‘Don Pasquale’ at the Theatre Royal and ‘Il Barbiero di Seviglia’ at the Manoel Theatre, while the Malta Amateur Dramatic Society presented their annual Christmas pantomime, ‘Dick Whittington and his Cat’ on Boxing Day.

New Year’s Day was similarly busy, with a Grand Concert by the King’s Own Band at Argotti Gardens under the patronage of the Governor of Malta. British residents and army personnel in Malta organised various Grand Teas, concerts and dances at institutes in Valletta.

Apart from the sound of music and dancing, Malta’s residents could enjoy another sound over the festive season: The almost constant ringing of bells at no less than 15 churches in Vittoriosa and Senglea alone.

“From an early hour this morning, there has scarcely been an interval in the ringing, and to those whose work lies on this side of the water, the sound is absolutely maddening,” complained A Great Sufferer, in his anonymous letter to the Malta Chronicle. “Young men and boys are allowed to rush up to the belfry and, seizing the first rope they come to, ring until told to desist by the sacristan.”

Not surprisingly, the bustling activity in the capital and Three cities therefore prompted a number of families to escape and there was a “busy exodus” of people to the countryside and villages over the festive season.

Ironically, Sliema was a firm favourite among nature-lovers one hundred years ago. As hotel owner Joseph Galea wrote in the Malta Chronicle, the best place to stay was definitely the Savoy Hotel which was situated in “the healthiest and highest part of Sliema” [the busy Rue d’Argens, Gzira today]. “This first class English family hotel…commands magnificent and unique views of the island, combining country and sea…[as well as] overlooking the harbour,” he wrote.

Yet, the crowds in 1905 were nothing compared to the number of people thronging through Valletta today. The Malta Herald reports that Malta’s population only amounted to 180,634 people in Malta and 21,495 in Gozo that year. Unfortunately, this low population was due to the high infant mortality rate.

Bravery of various sorts at Christmas 1905

One of the main highlights of Christmas 1905 was the launch of the Barrakka lift, which started operating on 6am on 17th December. However, only “the more venturesome” people were brave enough to try it out at first, the Malta Herald reported.

Towards evening, the lift was “brilliantly illuminated with electric light” and the machine worked at short intervals until 11.30pm.

Another major event was the Presentation of Medals at the Floriana Parade Ground, where members of the Royal Malta Artillery were honoured for outstanding service. While Gunners Julyan Micallef, Giuseppe Zammit and Giuseppe Mangion were awarded medals for Long Service and Good Conduct, No. 1638 Corporal Francesco Grech won the Royal Humane Society’s medal and certificate for an act of heroism: A few weeks before the ceremony, Corporal Grech had saved a boy, Emanuele Triganza, from drowning next to the Jew’s Sally Port near Valletta.

“The boy, in company with his father, was present at Saturday’s parade and doubtless shared pleasure at the distinction conferred upon his deliverer,” the Malta Chronicle noted.

Unfortunately, the Marine Police had a less positive Christmas Season, when an Italian sailing boat exploded and caught fire near the Coal Wharf in the Grand Harbour on 21st December 1905.

Nobody was injured in the blaze, though one casualty was reported: “Friends of Captain Stivala, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Marine Police will be sorry to hear that while hurrying to the scene of the fire, he fell at the Marine Boat House and strained his ankle, necessitating his removal home.”

The police also had a number of traffic accidents to deal with over the Christmas period, many of them involving the new Malta trams. Less than a year after the Maltese tram line was launched by Messrs McCartney, McElroy and Co. – the same company which provided the Barakka Lift – the newspapers already reported the setting up of a charitable fund for victims of tram accidents.

The letters pages of the 1905 newspapers are full of complaints about dangerous trams. According to an anonymous letter published in the Malta Herald, drivers were dangerously over-loading trams.

During one journey from Valletta to Cospicua, the tram was so full of people that it was too heavy to go uphill, the writer complained: “The tram car rushed along as far as the middle of the ascent, when a sudden explosion accompanied by a sudden flash of light took place” and the tram skidded back down the hill, forcing terrified passengers to jump out.

The Malta Herald also reported that a karozzin on its way to Hamrun ‘got entangled’ in the debris of a collapsed rubble wall and was then smashed by a tram travelling to Casal Zebbug on Christmas Day. Shortly after, the 7pm tram travelling through Casal Curmi (Qormi) derailed and almost destroyed a field wall.

Luckily nobody was injured in either of the two accidents. “The passengers were much terrified but did not suffer mishaps of any sort,” the newspaper noted.

Christmas disagreements and injustice

Politically, Christmas 1905 was a time of upheaval for Malta. The Maltese felt they had no control over their country and the Maltese representatives in the local Legislative Council repeatedly resigned.

The Maltese newspaper known as the Gazzetta urged readers not to forget the country’s political difficulties over the holiday season: “Let us first of all free ourselves from the system which oppresses and degrades us. Let us free ourselves from those who tyrannically lord it over us,” the editor stressed.

The behaviour of the British Governors in Malta came under strong criticism, with the Malta Herald describing many of their decisions as “both unjust and insolent”. The British Colonial Office rejected all the Maltese people’s demands, the newspaper remarked, “however equitable and just these demands may be”.

As a result, many pro-Italian Maltese politicians secretly agreed to set up an alterative ‘parliament’ called the ‘Consiglio Popolare’, with a separate election and policies of their own.

One example of the hardship imposed by the British on Maltese people was the English literature syllabus applicants had to study to sit for the Civil Service entrance exam for clerks, shortly after Christmas.

On 22nd December 1905, one month before their final exam, candidates were informed that they had to study Shakespeare’s Macbeth, De Quincey’s Revolt of the Tartars and the English Mail Coach, in detail, as well as being familiar with the works of Marlowe, Ben Jonson, Bacon, Barton, Browne, Milton, Dryden, Locke, Swift, Steele, Addison and Pope.

“How in the name of goodness can it be expected that a youth in his teens can read up and study all these authors in a single month, having at the same time other subjects to prepare?” asked one anonymous correspondent, writing to the Malta Herald.

“The knowledge expected in this subject from Candidates for the Malta Civil Service is by far superior to that laid down for the higher grades of the Civil Service of England.”

Due to this tension between the British and Italian sympathisers in Malta, our ancestors were often split in two on most issues concerning the island. The frequently positive reports submitted by the British Governors to Malta were therefore dismissed as “misrepresentations of facts” by pro-Italian critics.

“Many maintain that Malta is going downhill, while others may perhaps think that we are as prosperous and contented as any other people,” wrote the Malta Herald on 19th December 1905. “Perhaps the truth, as usual, lies between the two extremes.”

In fact, while newspapers strongly criticised their British rulers, there was still much praise for Her Majesty Queen Alexandra and pride that the Maltese formed part of the great British Empire.

The Malta Herald published a flattering ‘character sketch’ of ‘Our Faerie Queene Alexandra’on 16th December 1905, shortly after her visit to the island. The newspaper claimed that the queen’s “great gift of personal beauty and perennial youth” were particularly striking, as she “drove in our carozzini and crossed to Sliema in our passage boats”.

“Her well-known features and graceful figure were familiar as the saints in the stained glass windows of some ancient Minster,” the newspaper added.

Perhaps the soppiest article on the British Empire was published by the Malta Chronicle on December 23rd: “In that vast region which stretches from Quebec to Vancouver and from plains of promise to latitudes in which nothing but moss will grow, the happy people of the Empire to which we happily belong, are making all things ready for the holding of Christmas, in their homes topped with snow.”

Fortunately, the political situation and multiple contradictions prevalent in Malta at the time were not allowed to bother at least half the Maltese population. “Political topics must remain the monopoly of men for a while longer,” the Malta Chronicle advised readers.

“For women to deviate or stray outside the shopping area just now would not be a wise policy. Everything in its place and a place for everything.”