A very interesting pack of cards with a Malta connection is a quartet game called ‘Naval and Military Families’. It was designed by Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg and was meant to be sold to raise money for the benefit of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association.
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association
The Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families Association (SSFA) was founded in 1885 by Major (later Colonel Sir James) Gildea, an officer in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
As the Second Expeditionary Force had set sail for Egypt in 1885, Gildea wrote a forceful letter to The Times of London appealing for funds and volunteers to look after Service families left behind. He said that “no greater responsibility rests on men and women than the care of the wives and families of their soldiers and sailors”. Within three months, the charity was born, and the then Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) was appointed president. By the end of its first year, 231 women and 466 children had received grants totalling £515 and 10 shillings. It is a voluntary organisation that provides assistance to serving and ex-servicemen and women, and to their families, to this day.
Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria.In 1921, the association changed its name to The Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmens’ Families Association (SSAFA), following the creation of the Royal Air Force in 1918. Prince Louis of Battenberg, who later anglicised his name to Mountbatten in 1914, due to the mounting anti-German sentiment that sped across Europe during the first few months of World War I, married Princess Victoria of Hesse, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. He was the father of the Admiral of the Fleet Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. Mountbatten was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1979, when they planted a bomb in his boat at Mullaghmore in the Republic of Ireland. One of the many famous presidents of the Malta Polo Club was Prince Louis von Battenberg, who had served in Malta in the Royal Navy.
It is not clear whether it was the prince together with Princess Louis of Battenberg who actually prepared the drawings for the cards. It is believed, however, that they were, in fact, painted by his particularly-talented wife Victoria.
The pack of cards
The pack consists of 48 chromolithographed cards with a plain back measuring 113mm by 75mm and was “Lith. & Printed By E.[Rnst] Nister” in Nüremberg, c.1905-1910. It is divided into 12 families with four members for each family, consisting of the husband, wife, son and daughter. The game seemed to have been created for amusement as all the cards are caricatures. Even the names of the naval and military families poke fun at the positions that they occupy, and their surnames were purposely mis-spelt to add to the enjoyment.
The following are the names of the 12 families: Sir John Flag, the Admiral; Dr Cutts, the Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals and Fleets; Captain Boom, RN; Commander Paynt, RN; Mr Splice – the Boatswain; Petty Officer Spike; Mr Gunne, the Marine; Mr Gatt, the Sergeant Royal Malta Artillery; Major Line; Colonel Bief, ASC; Sir Wolfe Fite, the General; and H.E. Sir Hugh Pomp.
Rules of the game
The players sit round a table, and the cards are dealt to the players in rotation. A pool is to be formed by each player contributing three counters. The player to the left of the dealer starts by asking any one of the players for a character he is short of. If, for instance, he holds in his hand one or more of the characters, he should endeavour to complete the family, and when he has done so, he places it face down as a ‘trick’ of four cards on the table. The game proceeds in this manner until all the families are completed. The game goes on until one of the players gets all the families in his hand, and ends up the winner.
The Malta connection
What immediately comes to the fore is the Maltese connection, with the inclusion of the Gatt Family, sergeant of the Royal Malta Artillery (RMA), among the families. The four cards show Mr Gatt in his RMA uniform, the portly Mrs Gatt wearing an għonnella, the debonair José, Mr Gatt’s son, who is impeccably dressed and is holding what are probably pincers in his right hand (was he a dentist?) and a satchel of some sort in the other, and Mr Gatt’s elegant daughter, who is carrying parcels or groceries in her arms.
Mrs Gatt, Sergeant Gatt's wife.
Miss Gatt
José Gatt
It is interesting that Mr Gatt is mentioned because in the RMA, which was the first Maltese infantry unit to be raised after 1861 when the Royal Malta Fencible Regiment was converted to an artillery unit, we find Captain Alfred J. Gatt. He was born on September 26, 1882, in Sliema, and at the age of 19, he was commissioned into the RMA as a second lieutenant.
In 1905, he gained promotion to the rank of lieutenant and continued to serve in this capacity up to the outbreak of World War I. He was awarded the Military Cross for his exploits in Gallipoli in 1916. He had a long and illustrious military career and commanded the RMA throughout World War II, before he passed away in 1950. However, there was no sergeant in the family. But there were many Gatts in the British army, so this is likely to be a generic rather than specific reference. Interestingly, the artist made an effort to give Mediterranean features to the characters.
Characters from real life
It is tempting to speculate that the characters portrayed in the cards were all real-life characters. For example, the Governor of Malta, caricaturised as Sir Pomp in the cards, was Sir Leslie Rundle during that period. His wife was Lady Rundle née Eleanor Georgina Campbell (1856-1934).
It is tempting to speculate that the characters portrayed in the cards were all real-life characters
The couple, however, never had children and in the pack, the children are portrayed as two eccentric characters, with the dull Miss Pomp giving the impression of being a women’s suffragette. The Governor, Sir Hugh, seems quite genial and ready to meet people, yet the son looks very snooty and upper class. Sir Hugh wears the red ribbon of a Knight Commander or Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (the highest two grades). Lady Pomp is very elegant.
Sir Hugh Pomp
Lady Pomp
Captain Pomp
Miss Pomp
The family of Sir John Flag is a pun on the word “flag” which relates to the rank of admiral. Sir John looks like a friendly sort and is wearing the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB). Lady Flag’s decoration is not a recognisable British order. The daughter with her dance card is perhaps in search of a husband. Princess Victoria could easily have used her husband’s and her own portrait to depict Sir John Flag and Lady Flag, the Admiral of the British Fleet, but being caricatures, it is not easy to come to any conclusion.
Sir John Flag
Lady Flag
Miss Flag
There is double entendre for all the other families.
Dr Cutts, the Deputy Inspector General of Hospitals and Fleets, is an obvious reference to surgery. A senior post, the elderly couple are shown with grown-up children. The daughter is depicted as a nurse: appropriate for Malta given its role during WWI as the “nurse of the Mediterranean”, and the son looks like he has taken the Holy Orders – both very worthy professions for the children.
Captain Boom, RN, is an obvious reference to the boom, a horizontal spar attached to the mast. It could also allude to his booming voice. His children are quite young. The daughter was a sportive type as she is holding a ball and a tennis racket, and the son is a navy cadet.
Commander Paynt, RN, has a rank below that of captain, so it is not an insignificant rank, though he looks scruffy. His wife seems to be the long-suffering wife at the beck and call of her husband, always ready to hand tea and biscuits.
Mr Splice, the Boatswain, refers to another naval term. You splice a rope, but “splicing the mainbrace” means giving the order aboard naval vessels to issue the crew with an alcoholic drink, usually rum. Boatswain is a low rank, not well paid, so his wife is gaunt and frugal, the son is either a plumber or a workman on board.
Petty Officer Spike – In an attack on the enemy, one would spike their cannons to render them useless; one would literally hammer a metal spike into the touch hole to prevent them being used to fire again. A petty officer is a low rank and unlikely to get promotion, and so Spike could also mean awkward. The children are more or less grown up, but they seem to have more ambitions than their parents.
Mr Gunne, the Marine, is the usual pun. He is probably a sergeant major – notoriously disciplinarian. Miss Gunne seems to be working as a domestic in a household of social standing as she seems to be holding a silver glove tray in her hand.
Major Line is a reference to “regiment of the line”, a regiment organised for general service, as distinct from the regiment of the Life Guards whose duties are usually special. It would take many years of service to reach the rank of major, so he is not depicted young. His wife is elegant, with aspirations of culture, as she is seen singing. His children look quite young.
Colonel Bief, ASC – In the terminology of Hart’s Army List (the respected record of all officers in the British Army), ASC stands for ‘Attended Staff College’, which means they had special military training. Bief could also be a pun on “B.F.”, which in army slang is ‘bloody fool’.
Sir Wolfe Fite, the General, is another pun, this time on “fight”. Sir Wolfe wears the ribbon of the Order of St Michael and St George. This order is appropriate for Malta since it was established for Maltese and Corfiots. Lieut Fite, the son, is an officer in the army and may have even been a band conductor. Miss Fite has a golf club in her hand.
The game was created for a noble cause as it served to generate funds to help Service families who would have lost their loved ones during active service. It became very popular during the period in question, and it must have also been great fun playing with this pack of 48 caricatures.
The author owes a debt of gratitude to Christopher Grech for his invaluable help in the writing of this article.