Dr Felice Cutajar has the distinction of being the first Maltese high-serving officer under the British administration in Malta. He lived through a very eventful period of Malta’s history: the end of the reign of the Order of the Knights of St John of Jerusalem in 1798, the two-year turbulent occupation of the island by the French (1798-1800), and the beginning of the British era in 1800.

Dr Felice Cutajar, an oil painting at the National War Museum. Courtesy: Heritage Malta

Born on September 8, 1739, he was baptised the following day at the parish church of Our Lady of Porto Salvo (St Dominic), Valletta. His father, Salvatore Cutajar, was a pharmacist (magister aromatarius) by profession.

The young Felice Cutajar studied jurisprudence at the University of Malta, and graduated doctor of law, and obtained a doctorate in both civil and canon law (juris utriusque doctor). He was proficient in Italian, French and English, “a professional man of integrity” and “a matured learned lawyer”.

Title page of the printed narrative description of the French blockade in Malta by Dr Felice Cutajar.

At the age of 25, Felice Cutajar married Theodora Bonello. From this marriage, three daughters were born: Benedetta, Maria Anna and Clara. All three embraced the monastic life with the nuns of the Jerusalemite Order of St John (commonly known as the nuns of St Ursola) in Valletta.

With the advent of Napoleon and his troops in Malta in June 1798, Cutajar sided and sympathised with his compatriots, the Maltese insurgents against the French. He bequeathed to posterity a narrative description of the events and vicissitudes that took place during the two-year French occupation of Malta: Breve storia della venuta delli francesi nell’isola di Malta e loro modo di governarla (National Library of Malta, ms. 619).

Captain Alexander John Ball, Civil Commissioner of Malta. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Cutajar’s proficiency in languages, his acumen in the legal profession, and his sympathy with the Maltese against the French must have attracted the attention of Captain Alexander John Ball, Civil Commissioner of Malta and president of the island’s provisional government in 1799.

Cutajar won Ball’s confidence, leading to his appointment as secretary to Ball, in which capacity he attended the meetings of the Maltese National Congress. There was “an excellent rapport” between the two. Cutajar coordinated the proceedings between Ball and the representatives of the national congress.

Meanwhile, Ball was directed by Lord Nelson to proceed in HMS Alexander off Malta “and to use your best endeavours to blockade the ports of that island so as to prevent any supplies getting in them for the French troops, as well as to prevent the escape of the French ships now in that place”.

Captain Ball’s ship wintered at anchor off the coast of Malta, out of reach of the guns. During the greater part of the blockade, Ball lived on shore. The French troops, under General Claude Henri Belgrand de Vaubois, pressed by a dearth of provisions and unable to withstand the siege any longer, surrendered on September 4, 1800. The blockade had ended.

After the French surrender, gold medals, together with a citation or attestation, were awarded to the Maltese representatives in recognition of their service in the defence of the island. The attestations were signed by Ball and Cutajar, “secretary to his excellency”. Both signed on the same line. Silver medals were also awarded to those recruits in the village battalions who distinguished themselves in sorties against the French.

Maltese blockade medals.

“Cutajar served through Ball’s initial phase, and afterward in 1802, in the role of pro-segretario on Ball’s return to office. The books of minutes provide evidence of a very considerable workload, and of a man who did his job well.

Marble tablet of the secretaries to government at The Palace, Valletta.

No less important to the function of the secretariat system was the role played by the pro-segretario, or second secretary, who was the senior ranking Maltese official. The pro-segretario was the man who effectively dealt with most of the business coming to the secretariat from those institutions and departments of government that were staffed by Maltese functionaries. It was partly a matter of language, but also a recognition that in a situation where the legal systems and forms and practices of government were premised on former usages, there was a need of a knowledgeable and sensitive handling of Maltese affairs.

The pro-segretario was the man who effectively dealt with most of the business coming to the secretariat from those institutions and departments of government that were staffed by Maltese functionaries

Cutajar was the first pro-segretario in post. This was a new function in Maltese administrative tradition, which he seems to have carried out with notable efficiency. As Patrick Staines says in Essays on Governing Malta 1800-1813, he was Ball’s “Maltese face at the time and probably his closest advisor”.

Cutajar’s tenure of office ended abruptly on October 13, 1803, “in unexpected circumstances”. In 1804, Cutajar was re-engaged as one of the administrators of the public property board, “a post of much lower status and emolument”. It was an onerous appointment that involved the difficult transition period of the transfer of public property from the Order of St John to the early British administration.

On December 18, 1807, Cutajar retired from the public property board on the grounds of age and infirmity, and he was granted a pension of £60 a year, which Staines notes “was a pittance, considering his earlier service as uditore (advisor) and secretary”.

The registration of the death of Dr Felice Cutajar. Courtesy of Mdina Parish Archives

His tomb is unmarked, featuring neither his name nor the date of his death, nor by an epitaph

Cutajar died at his residence in Rabat on July 8, 1815, at the age of 76. He was interred in the crypt of St Paul’s church, fuori le mura, Rabat. His tomb is unmarked, featuring neither his name nor the date of his death, nor by an epitaph.