Ann Wickham was going through a leather album containing old letters that once belonged to her late brother Derek Barnes, when one caught her eye.

The fragile, carefully folded, handwritten letter was sent from “The Palace, Valetta”. But the content – penned by a woman – was far from official. The first few words read:

“Dear Derek, I am sure you would be surprised with this letter. I haven’t seen you again since the concert at the Hotel Phoenicia, but I haven’t forgotten you.”

Ms Wickham, 74, wondered who this woman from “The Palace” might be. Her name was Agatha Barbara. Could she have worked there?

Enthralled, she sat at her computer, in the living room of her home in York, UK, and Googled the name. Her jaw dropped.

Agatha Barbara was no less than Malta’s first female MP and minister. She even featured on bank notes when she became the first woman president in 1982.

Ms Wickham’s imagination came to life.

There was an attraction there I am absolutely 100 per cent certain, perhaps more was wished for than just friendship

Fuelled by the tone of the three letters she had in hand, she imagined a budding love between this robust woman and her young brother – a Royal Navy signalman based in Malta in his early 20s.

All three letters were written in 1949 – an eventful year for Ms Barbara, who was 26 at the time.

She had been elected to the Legislative Assembly two years earlier. That was also the year the Labour Party led by Sir Paul Boffa split and Dom Mintoff – whom she supported – became the official leader of the party she was committed to until she died in February 2002.

What amazed Ms Wickham and her husband, John, was the warmth of the words used by this woman often depicted as a harsh politician and described as “manly” and “rough”; she was even jailed for 43 days for picketing during the one-day national strike in April 1958 organised in protest against the suspension of the Constitution by the British government.

The letters she sent to Derek clearly convey her fiery passion for politics and for Malta – but they also shed light on the sensitive side many were unaware of.

In the first letter, sent from The Palace on February 17, 1949, she invites Derek to the next inauguration of the Maltese legislature.

“Perhaps you would be off and would care to come,” she tells him before noting that he “must be in civvies [civilian clothes] as otherwise you will not be admitted”.

The next two letters are typed and sent from her home in St Joseph Street, Żabbar, now marked by a commemorative plaque.

One dated March 20, 1949, is “the warmest of them all”, Ms Wickham said during a Skype interview.

“The letter shows a very strong interest. There was an attraction there I am absolutely 100 per cent certain, perhaps more was wished for than just friendship.”

Ms Wickham then read out the words: “Dear Derek, it was with the greatest regret that I read this morning that you will be leaving the island on Wednesday.

“I am very pleased to have met you, but now I shall regret that meeting because most probably I shall not be able to see you again, unless of course you are again posted here or I come over there.”

The words conjure up an image of a young, misty-eyed Agatha Barbara sitting at her home typewriter.

She tells Derek she enjoyed their meetings and tried to take him to the best spots on the island, even though she was very busy with “the sittings”.

“I also had the great wish to see you for the last time but that cannot be, because I can’t get away with the sittings as they are very important…

“I do wish that whenever you have a little time you will think of me and drop a few lines letting me know how you are getting on in dear old England,” she writes.

Ms Wickham was not surprised that Ms Barbara took a liking to her eldest brother – he was a charmer who made friends wherever he went.

She was just a child when he was travelling the world with the Royal Navy but still remembers the enthusiasm she felt when he returned home.

The last letter, dated October 17, 1949, is the longest – it was written just days after the Labour Party split.

“Dear Derek, it was a surprise for me to hear from you.

“I thought our friendship was completely broken after that argument we had at the Vernon’s [a services’ club that is now the Malta Stock Exchange], at least, that is what I thought, as you left my company without even saying ‘excuse me’.”

She then mentions letters Derek wrote to Times of Malta complaining about taxi drivers overcharging foreigners, before turning the subject to politics.

I am very pleased to have met you, but now I shall regret that meeting because most probably I shall not be able to see you again

“Have you read ‘Malta struggles for survival?’… You will then know what really did happen. Dr (Paul) Boffa lost his party leadership and – as other MPs followed him without bowing their heads to the decision taken by Conference, as the custom is – I and seven other Labour MPs are now in the Opposition.”

She ends on a warm note: “I can assure you I am not anti-British as the Times of Malta has labelled me, I am very much British and proud of it, too, but I am also proud of my Maltese blood in me.

“Well, all the best, hoping to see you again some day.”

It is not known whether she saw Derek again. But records show that he left Malta in December 1949.

Two years later, on December 28, 1951, Derek died in a motorcycle accident when he went home for Christmas. He was just 23.

Whether Ms Barbara ever found out is a mystery to Ms Wickham, who hopes that the politician did not live thinking he forgot her.

ccalleja@timesofmalta.com

What to do with the letters

Ann and John Wickham are considering auctioning the letters to donate the proceeds to a Maltese charity with an educational objective – in honour of Agatha Barbara’s origins as a school teacher.

She also served as education minister from 1955 to 1958 and again between 1971 and 1974 and instituted compulsory full-time education for children.

Two years ago, when Ms Wickham’s eldest sister Jeanne passed away, she was given “custody” of the three albums and several envelopes containing the memories of their dear brother. Derek was the eldest of four, followed by Jeanne, Olga and Ann.

Ms Wickham kept the treasured possessions in the top cupboard of her bedroom until, a few months ago, she went through them to look for a photo of Jeanne.

That was when the address “The Palace” sparked her interest.

Eager to share the story they stumbled upon, the couple contacted The Sunday Times of Malta and insisted on obtaining the blessing of a relative of Ms Barbara before going public.

Once this was obtained, from Ms Barbara’s sister Joan, the couple shared the scanned letters.

“We wanted to share this story especially since Agatha Barbara is an important person in Malta’s history… We would also be thrilled if anyone is still alive in Malta who remembers Derek,” Ms Wickham says.

‘My sister also had a soft side to her’

Leafing through faded black and white photos, Joan Barbara chuckles as she hears about the romantic letters her older sister Agatha sent to Derek Barnes.

Although she was completely oblivious to the friendship between her sister and the former Royal Navy signalman, she was not surprised.

“My sister was a very serious woman, especially because she was the eldest and because of her position, but she also had a soft side to her,” Ms Barbara said.

The letters unlocked an emotional chest of memories for the 84-year-old spinster as she recounted, through laughter and tears, stories of lost loves and childhood adventures.

“Agatha was married to politics; I guess her and I were never made for marriage,” Ms Barbara said, caressing a yellowing photo in her wallet of the British man she still adores and hopes to this day she can trace.

Closing her wallet and reverting to Agatha, Ms Barbara could not recall her sister mentioning Mr Barnes, but quickly added it would not have been something she would have shared with her family.

“Agatha wouldn’t have opened up to us. She didn’t have a confidante in the family. In those days it was different; you wouldn’t tell your parents you’re pining after somebody,” she said.

“Agatha was always very scared of wagging tongues, so she may have only shared her feelings with her closest friends.”

Rewinding her thoughts to her childhood days, Ms Barbara, who was born eight years after Agatha, said that her sister was always drawn to politics.

“I remember running through the streets barefoot flying this kite Agatha had made in the colours of Strickland’s political party; it remained imprinted in my mind,” she said.

Her sister was confident yet extremely responsible. When their father was stationed in Alexandria during the war it was up to Agatha to run the family’s wine shop.

“She’d spend hours chatting away with the soldiers who would come in and she never charged them a penny – we’d be millionaires if she did,” Ms Barbara laughed, refuting the suggestion that her sister could have been flirting.

“She just enjoyed the banter and the company; she rarely let her hair down and I never remember her dating anybody.”