The Troubridge family history has a 250-year-long connection to Malta and the seventh-generation Sir Tom wants the interest in it to continue into the future as he keeps up ties to the island 30 years after his last visit.

The descendant of a long line of naval ancestors, Sir Tom spent some childhood years in Malta around 1955 and his family returned to live on the island briefly 10 years later. His fond memories of those days were rekindled during his latest visit, three decades after he brought his wife over.

But the links date much further into the past, and Sir Tom goes back to the 1st Baronet, Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge, a Royal Navy officer who knew Lord Nelson from childhood. He was part of his group of captains who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and were known as the “band of brothers”, he recounts, reeling off historical dates.

“He met Nelson at 12 when they went to sea on the HMS Seahorse for the American War of Independence, and they forged a lifelong relationship.”

The first association with Malta that Sir Tom is aware of dates back to 1798 – the Battle of the Nile, the French-British naval conflict that left Napoleon’s fleet destroyed and led to the Siege of Malta, when the French were expelled from the island in 1800.

His ancestor was in command of HMS Culloden, which took part in some of the most famous battles of the French Revolutionary Wars before it was broken up in 1813.

The next maritime – and Malta – involvement of the Troubridge family was through Sir Tom’s grandfather. Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hope Troubridge commanded one of the aircraft carriers of the Santa Maria Convoy, Operation Pedestal.

HMS Indomitable did not make it to the island, his grandson records. It was heavily bombed but did not sink and its planes were transferred to another aircraft carrier that got to Malta in the end.

Sir Tom’s grandfather was also involved in Operation Sicily, the Allied invasion of the neighbouring island, in 1943, and he believes he could have come to Malta then.

Rear-Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge (1758-1807) and, right, Fifth British Sea Lord, Rear Admiral Troubridge in 1945.

“During my visit to the Lascaris War Rooms under Valletta, I realised I had not appreciated how much of the Battle of Sicily was planned in Malta,” he said, trying to join the dots to his grandfather’s stay here despite no records of a stopover on the way.

The Admiral went on to be the Fifth British Sea Lord by the end of the war, in command of its carrier fleet.

His own son, Sir Tom’s father, came to Malta in times of peace… and not on a ship, although he still served in the Royal Navy.

In those days, when he would come out for the holidays, the family enjoyed the use of a motor fishing boat, he recalls. Fungus Rock, a regular haunt for weekends with friends, was then “completely deserted”, unlike today, and the party would swim through the channel to the inland sea.

Sir Tom’s grandfather, Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Hope Troubridge, commanded one of the aircraft carriers of the Santa Maria Convoy, Operation Pedestal

They are happy childhood memories of learning how to sail, he reminisces, referring to a trip on the British naval frigate HMS Troubridge, built in 1943, when it visited Malta in the 1960s – a unique experience that left a lasting impression on the 10-year-old.

Sir Tom never joined the Royal Navy like his forefathers, making him the first Troubridge in over two centuries not to voyage down the same route – his own father believing it would no longer be the same illustrious career as that of his ancestors.

Nonetheless, he draws parallels between these jobs. As a PwC London partner for 44 years, Sir Tom was also at the helm of a “global organisation”, travelled the world for his work and fostered a strong sense of comradeship at work.

The difference was “there may have been no fighting – at least not physically,” he quipped.

Troubridge keeping up his family's historical ties with Malta

Fostering ties with Malta

Now retired, Sir Tom would like to foster the Troubridge ties with Malta and encourage his children and grandchildren to visit.

His youngest son may be the most interested in the family’s naval past, he said about keeping the legacy he has nurtured alive and continuing to build ‘Troubridges’ with Malta.

A guest of the Strickland family, also with strong historical ties to the island, Sir Tom credits them too for keeping the bond alive and would like the next Troubridge generation to visit and carry the baton.

In that case, one of the must-see sites would be Valletta’s “amazing and impressive” harbour – probably not only for its natural beauty but also for the memories of his naval family.