Elaine Tarpey writes:

My father, Brian N. Tarpey, who passed away on April 7, 2020, was invested as an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire at the British High Commission at Whitehall Mansions, Ta’ Xbiex, on November 14, 2013, in recognition of his work in restoring the graves of former Royal Marines and their families in cemeteries in Malta. The award was presented by the then British High Commissioner, Rob Luke.

My father spent 30 years conducting research into the Royal Marines’ history in Malta, starting from when the first British Marines landed on the island until 1978. He worked for the preservation and restoration of their memorials on the island.

He recorded a great number of Royal Marines’ deaths and the location of their graves, many over 100 years old, and he found graves and arranged for headstones to be erected over them, particularly for children of Royal Marines.

He also set up the yearly newsletter Royal Marines in Foreign Fields, a publication concerned with the preservation of Royal Marines’ memorials and monuments in Malta.

He erected a memorial plaque in Ta’ Braxia cemetery to commemorate the 3rd Commando Brigade Royal Marines’ stay on the island between 1947 and 1962.

In Ta’ Braxia chapel he installed two brass tablets, one commemorating the 68 Royal Marines who drowned in the HMS Victoria disaster of 1893 and the 11 Royal marines killed in the mining of HMS Russell in Grand Harbour in 1916. Each Royal Marine who died in these tragedies is named on the tablets. He also provided a memorial bench for Marines who died at sea.

In St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Valletta, he provided a Book of Remembrance of the Royal Marines buried on the island, which is kept in a locked glass-topped display case that he supplied.