During British rule, various endeavours were made to establish a Maltese colony in Cyprus. These attempts were made in the latter half of the 19th and early 20th century and, despite a number of false starts, the plan reached its zenith in the 1920s, but was followed swiftly by an abrupt cessation.

The initiative was launched by private businessmen who looked on the settlement as a business venture, an experiment to acquire riches, although material wealth was not the sole motivation. Even though Malta seems an unusual candidate to populate Cyprus, part of the reason for the plan stemmed quite simply from a morass of social problems in Malta.

Malta suffered from serious bouts of unemployment, was lacking in opportunities and cursed with high infant morality in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which are often considered as the after-effect of over-crowding.

Widespread poverty became so acute that people suffered from poor sanitation and newborn babies were often fed unsuitable food. Malta’s rate of infant morality was among the worst in Europe during this period. Although the British had never got too involved in planned immigration from Malta, they nonetheless considered it a panacea to the over-population of Malta. Coupled with high rates of unemployment this culminated in the immigration of entire villages from the island.

Yet, there was a more murky side to the plan. Britain deliberately planned to adjust the demographic nature of the island by transporting a more loyalist people to Cyprus. While not being wholeheartedly pro-British, the Maltese islanders, unlike the Greek and Turkish Cypriots, had no emotional ties to other islands or countries in the Mediterranean.

The idea was that Maltese colonists, predominantly those with imperial loyalties, would be transferred to Cyprus where they would be given financial aid, among other benefits from the State, and gainful employment by the British government. In return they could ensure political domination of the island by Britain.

So important was this plan that a Maltese lawyer by the name of Sir Adrian Dingli was dispatched to the island to assess the feasibility of transporting Maltese families to Cyprus.

Sir Adrian argued that Cyprus was a large island but its population was small, the climate was similar to that of Malta and thus it was ideally suited for the Maltese. Within a certain time, the Maltese agriculturalists would balance the number of settlers from Greece, which was causing trepidation among the British. An increase in the Greek population was not in the interests of Britain.

By 1880, Maltese entrepreneurs began to buy land on the island and had employed its people to cultivate the land and develop it. But these plans to increase the Maltese presence on the island never came to fruition to malaria.

Cyprus was then plagued with malarial swamps, which caused the death of thousands. Ultimately the British rid Cyprus of this problem but the effects on the population were serious.

In spite of this deterrent some Maltese families did however persevere and the idea of establishing a Maltese colony in Cyprus was kept alive by pro-British Maltese for many years.

By 1925, after which Cyprus was granted the status of British crown colony, the idea still had not been abandoned, with Lt Col Harman Grisewood presenting a plan to the Maltese authorities whereby he and others would buy land in Cyprus that would be settled and cultivated by some 320 Maltese families. This was to be called ‘Margo estate’. The new plantation would support up to 2,000 people and house a Catholic priest and a doctor.

To further create the atmosphere of “Little Malta”,

shopkeepers, draughtsmen, butchers, cooks, clerks and mechanics would be employed directly from Malta.

The ideas started becoming a reality when three Maltese agriculturalists immigrated to Cyprus in 1928. Their arrival proved successful so more plans were drawn up where prospective Maltese agriculture workers could buy land cheaply. Two months later it was announced that 200 more Maltese agriculturalists were to be settled on the Margo estate, with financial assistance from the Cyprus government.

The plan failed again because it had become entangled in the quagmire of Maltese partisan politics.

So enraged was Grisewood who saw his plans fall victim to misrepresentation and falsehood, he said: “Emigration to Cyprus is no leap in the dark. Cyprus is not an island of wild beasts, malaria, usury and drought.” At the same time, the political situation in Cyprus had degenerated and it no longer seemed an ideal location for settlement.