Dr Charles A Gauci writes:

It was with great sadness that I heard about the death of my old friend, Joseph Sammut Testaferrata Alessi, seventh Marquis of Taflia, more commonly known as Peppinu, who passed away on Good Friday at the venerable age of 100.

Peppinu had a very interesting life.  He started off by joining the priesthood and becoming a Canon in Birkirkara.  Finding that the priestly life was not for him, he sought and acquired permission to leave the priesthood, marrying his wife Lina in 1957 and moving to Australia where he had a second career in education eventually concentrating on languages especially English, Latin and Italian. He taught primary and secondary as well as special-needs students. He also obtained a PhD in philosophy.

He returned to Malta in 1974 from where he moved to Libya to become headmaster/director of an international college until 1980, when he again returned to Malta to take charge of the Libyan college for teachers of English at Ta’ Ġiorni. 

A brilliant Latinist, he had a sharp mind with a passionate interest in Maltese history in general and in the history of the noble Alessi family in particular. 

A very modest and private person by nature, he had to be strongly persuaded to petition for succession to the title of Marquis of Taflia (created 1790), which had been in abeyance since 1953.  He eventually succeeded as the seventh Marquis in 1982. 

His meticulous attention to detail made him the ideal secretary for the Committee of Privileges of the Maltese Nobility, a role he occupied for many years. 

In his retirement, he spent many long hours at the Bibliotheca in Valletta, researching his family history as well as the history of his beloved Birkirkara. We had many long discussions and I learnt a lot from him. Unfortunately, his health took a turn for the worse and he spent the last years of his life as a virtual recluse.

My condolences to Lina, the Dowager Marchioness and to their daughter Cheryl Runnacles, who now succeeds her father as the (eight) Marchioness of Taflia.