The Army Medical Department
And the Malta Garrison
1838

The average strength of the garrison was 2,236 men.

In the winter of 1838–39, the Dowager Queen Adelaide visited Malta for the benefit of her health.

In 1838, Fort Ricasoli was repaired so as to accept an infantry battalion and allow the whole of Fort Manoel to be given up to the Quarantine Department. The Ordnance Department prepared the barracks at Fort Ricasoli for occupation by two Field Officers, 12 officers and 402 men.

A monumental marble bearing the following inscription was erected in the Dockyard Chapel Malta:

Sacred to the memory of Lieut William Topham RM who died on board HMS Vanguard on her passage from Athens to Malta on 15 Oct 1837, and was buried at sea. The ward-room officers have erected this tablet as a token of their sincere esteem for him as a friend and mess mate

On 6 Dec 1838, Dr V Azzopardi petitioned the Rt Hon Viscount Palmerston, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, for the post of Medico di Porto and Polizia, which had been vacated by Dr Luigi Gravagna. Azzopardi had served in the British Army as an assistant surgeon. In 1807, he had accompanied the second expedition to Egypt under Maj-Gen Fraser MacKenzie.

He had also served in Sicily under Lt Gen Stuart, in Spain under the Duke of Wellington and in the Ionian Islands under Lt Gen Thomas Maitland. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars he had settled into private medical practice at Constantinople.

• 6 Jan Marriage of Lt W. R. Mends of HMS Rodney, eldest son of Capt Mends of HMS Talavera and Melita, third daughter of Dr J. Stilton MD Surgeon RN.
• 14 Mar Baptism of Alfred Taylor born on 22 Feb 1838, son of Susannah and Barrack Sgt Richard Taylor, deceased.
• 5 June Baptism of Clement Jennings born on 20 May 1838, son of Catherine and Barrack Sgt Richard Jennings.
• 14 Aug Baptism of Frances Rogers born on 29 July 1838, daughter of Fanny and Garrison QM Sgt Thomas Rogers.
• 15 Aug Baptism of Melita Louisa Major born on 19 May 1838, daughter of Catherine and Francis William Amiable Carpenter Major Assistant Commissary General.