On April 17 this year, Lieutenant General Sir Martin Garrod, former Commandant General of the Royal Marines, died at his home in Deal, Kent, aged 73.

This officer served in Malta with 40 Commando in 1955 and 1958, the same as many other Royal Marine officers and men who had served on the island. But to Sir Martin Garrod, Malta meant a great deal more than to others because his great-great-great-grandfather was Captain James Weir of the Marines who came ashore in Malta on March 30, 1799 with the first British force consisting of 500 British Marines to support the Maltese in besieging the French troops within the Valletta fortifications.

Captain Weir also raised and commanded the first Maltese Battalion known as the Malta Light Fencible Battalion (1800-1802). Not only did they take part in the siege of the French troops in Malta but 300 men of the battalion under his command also helped to drive the French out of the island of Elba in 1801.

When the battalion was disbanded in 1802 its colours were handed to Captain Weir who took them home. These colours were returned to Malta in 1884 by his son.

Captain Weir retired from the Royal Marine Corps in 1807 at the age of 50 and died in Scotland in 1820.

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