The former governor of the Central Bank of Malta, Robert John Alfred Earland, passed away peacefully in his sleep at Casa Antonia in Attard on Christmas Day. He was 100 years old.
He was known to his wife as ‘Bob’, ‘Daddy’ to his daughters, and to his grandsons as ‘GPJ’ for ‘Grand Pa John’.
Robert John Alfred EarlandDuring World War II, he served in the Royal Air Force. His experience at the Bank of England and subsequently at the International Monetary Fund gave him the wherewithal to supervise central banks transitioning to independence. Alongside a period in 1973 as governor for the monetary authority in the Maltese islands, he was also general manager from 1970.
Robert also served as governor of the Reserve Bank of Fiji.
Robert John was born in the English county of Devon, to Frederick Robert Mark Earland, a farmer and a butcher, and Marion Kate Earland, formerly Edwards. His birthplace, the 17th-century Cadbury House, is in the vicinity of All Saints church in Culmstock in the Blackdown Hills.
He was born at the height of the jazz age and was an entertaining piano player and singer. His renditions of popular songs went down well in various RAF mess-halls. In later years, his booming voice would rise wonderfully above the tinkling ivories, to the smiles of his wife Barbara.
In his days travelling by train to Tiverton Middle School, he sold the skins of moles he had caught in Culmstock. Moleskin being now, as then, a valuable commodity, he surely showed a smart eye for business. Perhaps some of his journeys were completed on foot. He won a great number of trophies for cross-country athletics.
Robert served in several RAF postings during World War II and was to become a radar instructor. He altered aerial equipment to better provide early warning of Nazi bombers heading to southern England.
It was at the Beer Head station in Devon that he met Barbara, who had family in British India and Ireland.
Robert left the RAF as lieutenant. He began work for the Bank of England in London, and they settled in the western suburb of Ealing, where Barbara gave him two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine. The family moved to Orpington in Kent.
Elizabeth − my mother – remembers long car journeys from Orpington to see her grandparents in Devon. The family later moved to Crowborough in East Sussex.
The move to Malta in 1970 allowed greater time for his hobbies
It was through the Bank of England in the 1960s that Robert was seconded to work as an adviser at the International Monetary Fund.The jet-set travel was an opportunity to bring his talents to bear in central banking operations in former British colonies now making their way as independent states.
The move to Malta in 1970 allowed greater time for his hobbies. First among these was golf.
Robert was proud to belong to the Royal Malta Golf Club, whose members joined him in celebrating his 100th birthday on January 17, 2024. He was club captain from 1991-2. Three spans at the eighth and 11th holes are named the ‘Earland Bridges’ in his honour.
His other passions were watching Formula One, driving his beloved golden BMW, amateur radio communication from Villa Earland in Madliena, and flying model planes from a former RAF airfield in Malta. For both activities he used the call sign 9H1EY. There was a great deal of crossover in these technical areas.
A fastidious attention to detail, no doubt useful in managing national financial institutions, was also apparent in the care he took with amateur electronics and in preparing lines, rods and tackle for fishing trout in Devon.
I remember my grandfather as a dignified, unequivocally forceful and faithful man, proud of his achievements and those of his family. Two of his grandsons are bankers. He was a model for clear speech, and always impeccably presented and groomed.
I will remember him showing his latest fantastic model gadget operating like clockwork. He would take a deep, expansive breath, look at us with raised eyebrows and ‒ in a kindly tone ‒ declare: ‘How about that?’ He will be dearly missed.