The 1813 Plague, as recorded by Notaries

Vincent Peresso is a retired Principal Education Officer, after having worked exclusively in elementary schools as a teacher, Assistant Head and then Head of School. The final work experience saw him involved in a project of School Reviews, which activity he still does on a part-time basis. Educated at the Lyceum in Hamrun, and St Michael’s Training College, Peresso acquired a Diploma in Education Administration and Management from the University of Malta. As from his younger years, he has shown interest in historical research and has written various articles especially about the town of Qormi where he now lives. Since retirement has become a keen researcher in the National Archives of Rabat, the Biblioteca in Valletta, various Parochial Archives and mostly at the Notarial Archives in Valletta. Vince Peresso is also committee member of the Malta Historical Society.

 

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Sponsored by the Alfred Mizzi Foundation. That of 1813 was the last large-scale plague epidemic that devastated Malta. From March to October 1813, it played havoc with the Maltese population. Valletta, Floriana, Qormi, Zebbug, Birkirkara and Rabat were the hardest hit towns and villages, although other villages around the island were also hit but to a lesser degree. In 1814, it also visited the Island of Gozo with Xagħra being the sole town to be hit. This epidemic disrupted the economic revival that Malta was having in consequence of the Napoleonic Wars. The Civil Authorities, under the leadership first of Sir Hildebrand Oakes and then Sir Thomas Maitland, as well as the ecclesiastical authorities under the leadership of Bishop Ferdinando Mattei, took various precautions to stall the spread of this epidemic. All commercial, economic, social and religious activities were ordered to stop as from the first days of May 1813. Various other precautions were taken and these were duly notified to all by numerous notifications issued by the Civil Authorities. A complete record of the persons who were attacked and/or who succumbed to the disease were issued on a daily basis. Various reports and books on the plague have been written in the ensuing years. These reports often went beyond just recounting what had happened. Many of these reports were written by medical men with the aim of understanding how this dreadful disease was transmitted and thus trying to find a cure for it. In this lecture, the speaker is going to discuss and view this tragical period as reported in the volumes of the notaries who worked during the years 1813 to 1815. It is logical that during these three years, notaries’ work dealt with contracts which either resulted directly from the plague epidemic or else in some way or other had a connection to the plague, even if the epidemic was not specifically mentioned. During the past four years, the Mr Peresso has read all the contracts as from January 1813 to August 1814 as well as various others of the subsequent years. In this process, the speaker has gone through over more than 25000 contracts.

 

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