Medical Officers
Of the Malta Garrison
Richard Cleave
1781 – 1850

Service Record

1 July 1796 Purveyor Clerk aged 15 years.

1 July 1796–17 Feb 1797 Served in Corsica and Elba.

18 Feb 1797–6 Nov 1798 Served in Portugal.

7 Nov 1798–20 Apr 1801 Served in Minorca. Was present at the capture of Minorca by Maj-Gen Charles Stuart in Nov 1798.

21 Apr 1801–20 June 1803 Served in Egypt with 3 coys of De Watteville's Regiment following the outbreak of plague on board two ships on the eve of 8 Mar 1803 as they were about to leave Alexandria.

Malta 21 June 1803 Arrived from Egypt.

Malta 1804 Clerk at the Military Hospital Valletta.

Malta 1805 Clerk at the Military Hospital Valletta. The pay of a Purveyor's Clerk was 5 shillings a day.

Malta 1806 Purveyor Clerk at the Military Hospital Valletta.

Malta 1807 Purveyor Clerk at the Military Hospital Valletta.

Malta 1808 Purveyor Clerk at the Military Hospital Valletta.

Malta 22 Feb 1809 Left for Sicily with rank of Deputy Purveyor.

22 Feb 1809–17 Jan 1810 Deputy Purveyor in Sicily.

29 June 1809 Commissioned Deputy Purveyor.

18 Jan 1810–26 Apr 1814 Served in the Ionian Islands.

22 Mar 1810 Present at the siege of Santa Maura under General Sir John Oswald.

11 Dec 1811 Letter from the Army Medical Board to Inspector of Hospitals James Borland at Messina, notifying him of the removal of Deputy Purveyor Frost William from the Staff of the Army in Malta to the Sicilian Command so as to relieve Deputy Purveyor Richard Cleave who was needed in Portugal as soon as he is relieved.

27 Apr 1814–26 June 1814 Deputy Purveyor in Italy.

27 June 1814–16 Dec 1814 Deputy Purveyor in Sicily.

Malta 17 Dec 1814 Returned from Sicily. Deputy Purveyor to the Military Hospital in Valletta.

Malta 1 July 1815 Appointed Purveyor to the Civil Hospital Valletta by Sir Thomas Maitland. His annual salary was £176.19 shillings.

Malta 24 Dec 1816 Terminated his services as Purveyor to the Forces in the Mediterranean. Became Purveyor to the Charitable Institutions.

Malta 23 Feb 1817 Reduced to half-pay on 5 shillings a day, but remained in the employment of the local government as Purveyor to the Charitable Institutions.

Malta 22 Mar 1817 Had a son, Richard.

Malta 1818 Purveyor to the Charitable Institutions.

Malta 1819 Purveyor to the Charitable Institutions.

Malta 18 Mar 1819 Birth of a son, Joseph.

Malta 24 Mar 1820 Reduced to half-pay, but remained in the employment of the Civil Government as Purveyor to the hospitals of Malta. His annual salary was £176 19 shillings.

June 1820 Struck off the strength of the Malta garrison.

1 Jan 1821 Richard Cleave was held on the establishment of the Civil Hospital Valletta as a purveyor. His monthly salary was 172 scudi. (The scudo was equivalent to 1 shilling and 8 pence).

Malta 9 May 1821 Birth of a son, George.

Malta 1 Jan 1823 Purveyor to the Hospital of Santo Spirito, with an extra emolument of £76 10 pence. Cleave was superintendent, commissary, and accountant of the hospital.

Malta 1824 Elected member of the Permanent Committee of Management of the House of Industry.

Malta 27 Jan 1827 Remarried in Malta. Had three sons by a former marriage: Richard (22 March 1817), Joseph (18 Mar 1819), and George (9 May 1821). Resided at Birkirkara.

Malta 7 Feb 1844 Completed Army Medical Department Statement of Home and Foreign Service from Malta.

Malta 15 Sep 1850 Died at his residence at Birkirkara of apoplexy. He left a wife and daughter. His widow, Agatha Cleave, was granted an annual pension of £30.

19 Nov 1870 Mary Cleave, daughter of Deputy Purveyor Cleave petitioned for a continuation of her allowance of £10 from the compassionate fund which had been granted to her for 3 years, up to 31 March 1870.

The petition of Miss Mary Cleave, the only unmarried daughter of the late Deputy Purveyor Richard Cleave. That on the demise of her father in 1850, a yearly pension of £30 was granted to his widow, the late Mrs Agatha Cleave, mother of the petitioner, who died on 3 June 1867. That in 1867, the petitioner obtained an annual allowance of £10 from the compassionate fund for the period of 3 years which expired on 1 Apr 1870. The petitioner is unable to work from ill health, and lives at 60 Strada San Rocco Birkirkara. The medical certificate from the Police Physician of the district, Dr D. P. Mifsud, signed on 21 Oct 1870, stated that she is affected by cataracts in both eyes, which illness has become chronic, whereby she has almost entirely lost her sight, therefore in her present state she is to be considered as being almost without health.¹