Studies in local history after 1800 : Rabat

Abstract

In this thesis, I have concentrated in giving a view of Rabat from every aspect of its society, in the 19th and 20th century. This probably contrasts the way in which Rabat has been seen, as only an archaeological site. In fact, in this thesis these archaeological findings have been greatly neglected mainly because they fall out of context and because they have been exhaustively written about. Where necessary, Rabat has been contrasted with the South of Malta as this greatly explains why due to its location on the map of Malta, Rabat developed differently from the main trends on the Maltese islands which are greatly influenced with the port area. The main sources have been the Censuses, which range from 1851 to 1995 at intervals of about 10 years. However, Censuses presented difficulties, as they did not offer any data for the first 50 years of the 19th century, thus Status Animarum had to be consulted. Moreover, not all the Censuses carry out the same format and thus a particular aspect could not always be carried out throughout the whole write-up. This can be said as regards migrations tables which were found in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 Censuses but not in the other Censuses, or tables as regards the standard of living of the people by locality which were found in the 1851 Census but not in the others. A draw back was that at time Censuses such as the 1881 Census divide localities in district and thus it become difficult to isolate Rabat. For the deaths and births at Rabat, the Lib. Bap. and Lib. Def. were consulted, which presented a drawback as they were split up amongst the Rabat and Mdina parishes. Other primary sources that I consulted were the Blue Books, which gave useful data for education, the Charitable Institutions such as the Santo Spirito and also as regards the health facilities at Rabat. I also consulted the Malta Government Gazettes especially for the registered voters at Rabat in the years before universal suffrage. A drawback put forward by all the mentioned sources including the Censuses mentioned previously was that for the 19th century Mdina is included with Rabat since these had joint parishes. A number of reports have been consulted. Hopefully this work proves to be as interesting to others as it has been to me. I hope this work will cast useful light on the general social life of the rural parts of the Maltese Islands.