J. Quentin Hughes, architect, historian and educator and author of three books on Malta, died yesterday in England, aged 84.

Professor Hughes fell in love with Malta when, as a young artillery officer, he was dispatched on the Force H convoy sent to relieve the beleaguered island at the height of World War Two.

Professor Hughes distinguished himself in the promotion of Malta as an important centre of baroque and military architecture. His works earned him Malta's Order of Merit, which was conferred on him last year.

In Malta he fell in love with the people and buildings around him and he started sketching them.

He stayed in Malta until 1943 then joined the SAS and went to Italy. He was badly injured and captured when blowing up reconnaissance aircraft at an airfield to stop the Germans from detecting the landings at Anzio.

Professor Hughes had eventually escaped and joined the Italian partisans, teaching them sabotage techniques before getting back behind Allied lines.

After the war, he resumed his studies. A scholarship in 1956 enabled him to write The Building of Malta, his first book about Malta.

He was later appointed Dean in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Malta, a job he held until 1973.

His other books on Malta were Fortress - Architecture and Military History in Malta (1969, republished by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti in 2001) and Malta: the Baroque Island, with Conrad Thake (2003).

He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's Birthday Awards in June 1999 for services to Architectural Conservation.