89th Regiment of Foot to Malta
When Admiral Lord Nelson defeated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile on 1 and 2 August 1798, the remnants of the French fleet sailed into Malta's Grand Harbour of Valletta. Malta had been occupied since the arrival of Napoleon's French Army of the Orient in June 1798, when the Knights of Malta had offered little resistance and capitulated.
The Maltese Knights, by now tired of the financial depravations and ignominy of their earlier capitulation, began an uprising, bottling up the 4,500 strong French garrison in Valletta. Maltese emissaries seeking help from Sicily and Naples met one of Nelson's Captains (Saumarez) and were therefore able to communicate with Nelson who then blockaded the French in Valletta.
Brigadier General Thomas Graham was despatched from Messina on 6 December 1799, with a force of some 800 aboard the Culloden , including the 89th Regiment of Foot commanded by Lt Col Lord Blaney. The force disembarked at St Paul's Bay on 10 December and the 89th were quartered in Nasciar and Casal Lia. Graham then raised a local corps that he titled the Maltese Light Infantry and his campaign aimed to starve the French into surrendering; they did so on 4 September 1800.
The Maltese, in 1800, opted to place their islands under the protection of the British who, at first, were reluctant to rule Malta as a colony because the King of Naples claimed sovereignty and therefore regarded the British presence as 'protecting' Malta. The British did accept it as a colony by 1813 when a Governor-General was officially appointed to rule on behalf of the British Sovereign. He was assisted by an advisory council of (mainly) Maltese citizens and Malta's status as a British colony was ratified by the Treaty of Paris signed on 30 May 1814.
Malta's strategic location would become all the more important with the opening of the Suez Canal on 17 November 1869 and as fortress Malta during the Second World War was an irritating impediment to the Axis Powers' operations in North Africa and the Mediterranean. The actions of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers during the Second World War on the island are emblazoned on The Queen's Colours of The Royal Irish Regiment as the Battle Honour MALTA 1940.
