Pharmacists and politics in Malta in the 18th and 19th centuries

Abstract

In the 18th and 19th centuries, preparations for a revolt against the foreign rulers in Malta were mostly planned by pharmacists. A case in point was the pharmacist Pasquale Balzan who with a handful of men succeeded in taking possession of St. James Cavalier in Valletta. The uprising was however quickly quelled by the Grand Master and Knights of St. John, and he was strangled to death. Another pharmacist is Francesco Pisani, the owner of a pharmacy in Senglea who in his pharmacy was alleged to have plotted together with other physicians to assassinate General Vaubois in order to oust the French from Malta. Under the French, another pharmacist was Stanislaus Gatt from Qormi who realised that it was not enough to expel the French from Malta but also to bring the Island under a powerful protecting power. These were the times of social and political unrest in Europe. Pharmacies played an important role, as they served as “clubs” where groups of professional and cultured men discussed the news and political topics of the day.