The following article was included in the 2022-23 annual report of the Order of St Michael and St George issued earlier this year by the UK’s Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood.

An intriguing carte-de-visite photograph came to the author’s attention recently that offered an insight into the investiture ceremonies of the Order of St Michael and St George carried out in Valletta in the middle of the 19th century. Examination of the photo led to the discovery of a previously overlooked functionary involved in supervising these investitures.

A few months ago, this author received an enquiry regarding the subject of a full-length photographic portrait taken by Malta’s earliest photographer Leandro Preziosi (1820-1869), younger brother of the more widely-known artist Count Amadeo Preziosi (1816-1882). Leandro operated a successful photographic studio for the last 10 years of his short life.

The photograph on the left shows a military officer in a full-dress uniform with a cape draped over his shoulders. The verso of the carte-de-visite was inscribed, rather cryptically, ‘Bread’. The sitter was instantly identified as Sir Wilford Brett, who served first as aide-de-camp (ADC) and then as assistant military secretary to Governor Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant (1803-1874). This attribution can be confirmed by comparison to a larger three-quarter-length photograph of Brett.

Sir Wilford Brett, KCMG. Leandro Preziosi, 1864. Photo: Courtesy of Dr Charles Paul Azzopardi/Mipa - Mipa.com.mt

Major Wilford Brett. Unknown photographer. Author’s collection

In the carte-de-visite, Brett is wearing the neck badge of the Order – if he wears a breast star, it is hidden under his cape. We can also make out a smaller, oval badge hanging from his neck sitting just above the Order’s 14-pointed badge. From Prof. Rev. Peter Galloway’s definitive history of the Order, we learn that Brett served as the officer-of-arms in Malta from 1860 to 1865. Therefore, the oval badge must be that of an officer-of-arms and his cape is the red mantle of an officer of the Order.

Wilford Brett (1824-1901) was the fourth son of Rev. Joseph George Brett of Chelsea and the younger brother of William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, PC (1815–1899), who served as master-of-the-rolls from 1883 to 1897. Wilford entered the army as ensign in the 76th regiment in 1840, was promoted lieutenant in January 1843, and captain in June 1855. He was a protégé of Lieutenant-General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant and had served as his ADC in Nova Scotia before they both moved to Malta in 1858.

He proved to be an efficient administrator and trusted friend of the governor, periodically serving as acting chief secretary during Sir Victor Houlton’s absences from Malta. Brett also followed Le Marchant to India in 1865 when the latter was appointed commander-in-chief of the Madras Army.

On closer inspection of the carte-de-visite, one notes that Brett’s hand rests on a white-plumed bicorn hat, and peeping out from under this hat are two items that appear to have decorated finials. Given Brett’s position as officer-of-arms, we can assume that the items on the table must be related to his station within the Order.

Detail of the above carte-de-visite, showing Brett’s hand resting on a white-plumed bicorn hat, and peeping out from under this hat are two items which appear to have decorated finials.

When the Order was reorganised in 1851, new appointments were created in the form of an officer-of-arms in Corfu and Malta. The revised statutes described the duties and official dress of these newly created offices. Each of these officers was eventually issued with a blue rod of office.

As only one new officer was created in each of the Mediterranean holdings and only one rod was mentioned in the statutes, it seemed logical to assume that the new rods, which measured approximately 100cm in length, might have been manufactured in two sections, allowing them to be stored in a smaller case for ease of storage and transport. Thus, it was originally thought that the items seen on the table might possibly be the two ends of the same (disassembled) blue rod.

If we compare the finials with those of the Blue Rod of the Gentleman/Lady Usher and the rod of the King of Arms kept at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood at St James’s Palace we see that they are each surmounted by crowns with the former having a globe-like finial at the end similar to the finial shown in the carte-de-visite.

Badge of the King of Arms of the Order. Lithograph by von Brocktorff and Sons. 1851. Photo: Author’s collection

However, a review of mid-19th century investitures held in Malta shows that at the ceremony held on June 16, 1858, both an officer-of-arms and a master of ceremonies (MC) were mentioned as having been in attendance. This was the first instance that an MC was recorded at the Order’s investitures, and from research carried out so far, this seems to be the first time an MC officiated at the Palace during British rule. The MC is referred to again at the investitures held on July 27, 1860, and May 23, 1868. No MC is mentioned at the intermediate investiture of October 27, 1864; however, there seems to be a good reason for this as will be explained below.

The ceremony on June 16, 1858, was the first instance that a master of ceremonies was recorded at the Order’s investitures

We are fortunate that the 1858 investiture was described in detail in the Malta Government Gazette. On this occasion, Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, was invested with the insignia of a Grand Cross of the Order by Governor Le Marchant.

The account gives details of the officer-of-arms wearing the mantle, badge and rod of office while carrying Her Majesty’s warrant borne on a velvet cushion, the procession being led into the Hall of St Michael and St George by the “Master of Ceremonies, with a white Rod of Office”. These accounts therefore prove conclusively that both the officer-of-arms and the MC carried their own distinct rods of office, and thus it is almost certain that what we see in this carte-de-visite are these two different rods. This appears to be the only extant visual record of either of these rods of office.

Further research into the Malta investitures allows us to date Preziosi’s photograph with some accuracy. Brett is shown wearing the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Order with which he was invested on October 27, 1864; he then left Malta with the governor and his family on November 4, just eight days after his investiture. The photo must have been taken within this short space of time. It is unlikely that a dress rehearsal was held before the investiture, and even if this were the case, it could not have occurred much before the investiture.

Returning to the MC: although this functionary was included in the 1858 investiture, Brett was the first named incumbent at the investiture of July 27, 1860. Here he was referred to as being “appointed for the occasion”, which indicates that he did not hold this position permanently. In fact, in December of that year, Brett took over from Giovanni Battista Schembri as officer-of-arms so he could not have held both positions after December 1860.

It was noted above that no MC was in attendance at the investiture of October 27, 1864. It is most likely that since this was Brett’s own investiture, and assuming that as officer-of-arms, he was already responsible for ensuring the correct procedure was followed, it was deemed that no MC was required. As it was, with Brett acting as officer-of-arms at his own investiture, the proceedings must have seemed quasi-comical when, having made his entry into the Hall of St Michael and St George at the head of the procession and subsequently, having read aloud Her Majesty’s warrant appointing him Knight Commander, he then retired from the hall to return with his two supporting knights commander.

The whole issue of an MC officiating at the investitures of the Order in Malta is something of a puzzle since the revised statutes of 1851 stated that the officers-of-arms “shall sedulously attend the service of the Order, and faithfully obey and execute all directions which shall, in that behalf, be transmitted to them by the Secretary and Registrar of the Order”. This clause spells out quite clearly that the duties of the officer-of-arms included those normally expected of an MC.

Furthermore, Galloway, quoting from the correspondence between Earl Grey (Secretary of State for War and the Colonies) and Sir Henry Ward (Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands), the former articulates the duties of the officer-of-arms as being “fully competent to conduct investitures and possessed of sufficient temper and firmness to see that they are conducted in accordance with the statutes”.

There were clearly problems with finding suitable incumbents in both Corfu and Malta. Ward eventually appointed Count Antonio Lefcochilo Dusmani, Secretary of the Senate, in November 1852, after much delay. Malta’s first officer-of-arms was William Thornton, Auditor-General of Accounts, who had so little taste for pageantry that he hoped he would not be called on to officiate at any of the Order’s ceremonies.

Captain Giovanni Battista Schembri followed Thornton as officer-of-arms in 1856. As Schembri was rebuked on one occasion for not ensuring that a returned insignia was in perfect condition, he may well have fallen short of expectations. Thus, one possible explanation for the appointment of an MC in Malta may have been due to the fact that there was some uncertainty as to whether the officer-of-arms was capable of fulfilling his job description.

Governor Le Marchant was a stickler for protocol and may have appointed Brett, his trusted deputy, as MC to oversee the officer-of-arms, thus ensuring that all proper procedures were followed.

Le Marchant’s imperious manner and volatile temper were common knowledge. His overbearing attitude can be demonstrated by two portraits of the governor which can be considered companions to Brett’s photographic portrait. In the black-and-white version, we see a typical example of Le Marchant’s exuberant signature running across the mount of the photo seen fourth from left. A number of books formerly in the governor’s personal library, now in the author’s collection, also show his signature scrawled liberally across the entire page of the book.

More telling is the hand-painted version of the same photo seen second from left in its lavishly gilded frame. This portrait was rendered by the Italian artist Luigi Aspetti, who Le Marchant commissioned to paint miniature copies of the portraits of the grand masters of the Knights of Malta.

Lieutenant General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant. Unknown photographer. Author’s collection

Lieutenant General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant. Unknown photographer, hand painted by Luigi Aspetti. Author’s collection

The same photo of Le Marchant with his exuberant signature running across the photographic mount.

Le Marchant clearly saw himself as a worthy successor to the illustrious grand masters, making it entirely logical to assume that he would want the ceremonies conducted in the Grand Council Chamber of the Knights of Malta, remodelled in the early 19th century as the Hall of St Michael and St George, to be executed with the pomp and pageantry that both an officer-of-arms as well as an MC would ensure.

Since the publication of the article mentioned above in the 2022-23 annual report of the Order of St Michael and St George, the author has discovered that the MC acted as a conduit between the elected members of the Malta Council of Government and the home government on a query related to issues of precedence. In July 1860, Ruggiero Sciortino LL.D., one of the elected members, questioned the MC (although not named, most likely Wilford Brett) regarding the relative precedence of the official and elected members of the Council of Government. It appears that the elected members also sent this query directly to Her Majesty’s government in London. As one might have expected from Le Marchant, his response was swift and decisive. Within a couple of days, the Governor instructed Sir Victor Houlton, Chief Secretary, to inform the elected members that the official members took precedence over the elected members.

At the end of October, the Chief Secretary wrote again to the elected members conveying the official response of Her Majesty’s government which confirmed the Governor’s earlier opinion. Moreover, this information included a reprimand from London, requesting that the Governor inform the elected members of “the irregularity of the course which you [the elected members] have adopted in transmitting your appeal direct to Her Majesty’s government without His Excellency’s intervention” – a practice that was to plague Le Marchant’s tenure as governor since the elected members increasingly felt that their collective voice was not being heeded.

Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to Giovanni Bonello for the sourcing of the carte-de-visite of Sir Wilford Brett, and to Charles Paul Azzopardi for agreeing to its reproduction.