Once the British took formal possession of Malta, the former building of the Guardia della Piazza, opposite the Grandmasters Palace in the centre of Valletta, across St George’s Square, was ideal for mounting the Palace Guard and, in 1814, was converted to ‘The Main Guard’.

‘At the Main Guard’, The Graphic. Note the murals on the mess hall’s walls.

Once the Wignacourt fountain was removed, the square served as an excellent space for troops to parade or give displays to the governor and visiting dignitaries.

The building of the Main Guard, where family friends serving in the British army were occasionally posted, had fascinated me since childhood. In mid-2019, Heritage Malta started an extensive restoration project in which two conservators are working on the restoration of not just the paintings but in giving new hope to this historic building and its contents.

Badge of the Lancashire Fusiliers with the pre-1881 ‘XX’ of the 20th (East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot.

The works also includes uncovering any other noted features that may have been covered and the consolidation of the layers of various paints on the walls themselves.

The ground floor served as the guard room, the soldiers’ quarters, armoury and ablutions, and where a quarter guard was always present, with sentries pacing the front of the portico at intervals. The officer had his own accommodation upstairs, known as the duty officer’s quarters, next to the large hall that served as the officers’ mess.

Between 1881 and 1882, the Childers reforms and Cardwell reforms brought to an end the British infantry’s numerical system and many regiments were amalgamated under new names, mainly associated to their region of origin.

Badges of the Royal Sussex Regiment.

The walls of the former officers’ mess hall at the Main Guard is an illustrative statement handed down to us by artists, many being either the soldiers themselves during the long hours spent on guard duty or as instructed by one of the officers and even by the officers themselves.

Some are attributed to renowned officers, such as Major Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams, while another signed ‘G.M.F. 42nd’ is likely by Captain (later Colonel Sir) George Malcolm Fox. This huge array of wall paintings representing badges, colours, uniformed figures, caricatures and events, some quite crude and anonymous, are a testimony to the presence of the various regiments and men of the British army stationed in Malta or just in transit, otherwise forgotten to time.

A testimony to the presence of various regiments and men of the British army

The 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment was in Malta from 1909 to 1912.

Unfortunately, alterations and additions were made to these paintings during the odd 150 years serving as the Main Guard, and others were either superimposed by newer ones or painted over. Due to its uniqueness and my years of interest in this mess hall and in this branch of Maltese history, I regularly researched this building and particularly the military paintings on its walls (‘The Main Guard and its murals’, in Vigilo, No. 40, October 2011, and ‘British military Iconography; The Main Guard & its murals’, The Bulletin, MHS(UK), Issue 246, Vol. 62, Nov. 2011).

Permission was sought from Heritage Malta to voluntarily assist in the ongoing restoration project at times and, in due course, ended in having researched every badge on the walls and expanding even to the many of the uniforms paintings.

Incomplete badge of 42 Commando, Royal Marines, in Malta between 1947 and 1952.

Whether in full colour and artistically painted or rough sketches in pencil, some unfinished and others uncover­ed under layers of whitewash, some 45 badges have been identified and catalogued.

Not all badges are as officially worn on headdress and some belonging to the same regiment are repeated either by different hands or as in different time frames. Just about all badges belong to the infantry regiments that mounted the guard, including of the World War I territorial or reserve battalions then stationed in Malta and up to the Main Guard’s closure in the early 1970s.

Apart from the uniform illustrations, caricatures and sketches, the badges amount to about a third of what is on the walls, some with much licensing.

An ‘expanded view’ of the badge of the Royal Malta Artillery .

To name a few of regiments represented by the badges, there are: the Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment), The 4th (The King’s Own Royal) Regiment, the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers), the 6th (Royal 1st Warwickshire) Regiment, the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), the 9th East Norfolk Regiment, the 10th (North Lincolnshire) Regiment, the Devonshire Regiment, the Suffolk Regiment, The Prince Albert’s Light Infantry (Somersetshire Regiment), The Prince of Wales’ Own (West Yorkshire Regiment) and more.

Various badges represent the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers, which was in Malta from 1898 to 1899, while the 1/1st and 2/1st (City of London), 1/2nd and 2/2nd (City of London), the 1st/3rd and 2/3rd (City of London) and the 1/4th and 2/4th (City of London) Royal Fusiliers were all in Malta during 1914 and 1915, either as garrison or awaiting embarkation to the Great War. The 5th and 6th (Reserve) Battalions, raised in 1914 had remained in the UK, with the 6th going to Ireland in late 1917, although there’s reference to it in uniformed figures.

Badge of the East Kent Militia, in Malta during World War I.

Two different badges represent the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment, based on the Glengarry badge as worn by the regiment with slight variations.

Two more paintings depict the post-1881 badge for other ranks and the officers’ star pattern badge in King’s Crown. 

One painting but not of a badge, represents the 68th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery and there is the cap badge of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, who were in Malta only from November to December 1956 during the Suez Crisis. Three other badge paintings pertain to the 40, 42 and 45 Royal Marines, Commando.

Badge of the King’s Own Malta Regiment by Capt. F. Cassar Torregiani, 1933.

The badge of the Royal Malta Artillery is the ‘expanded’ or ‘exploded’ version of post-1902 and bears the Tudor or King’s crown and ‘Egypt 1882’ Battle Honour.

The King’s Own Malta Regiment has a number of badges, some just sketches in pencil and uncovered under layers of whitewash. The regiment was last to occupy the Main Guard and the upper hall was its officers’ mess. Other to the badges, the queen’s and regimental colours of the KOMR are also painted in the centre of the eastern wall, where the actual colours were once displayed unfurled. They were painted by Adrian Strickland, Paul Debono and Louis J. Sant Cassia, all officers of the regiment (‘Murals at the Main Guard’, letter by Louis J. Sant Cassia, Times of Malta, December 18, 2020.)

Paintings on a section of one of the walls.