Mabel Strickland, who died 30 years ago today, will always be remembered for her courage and resilience in the face of adversity, both as a politician and journalist. Two former editors of Allied Newspapers, Victor Aquilina and Laurence Grech, tell Stephanie Fsadni why.
Born on January 8, 1899, Mabel Strickland started her foray into politics at a young age. She became assistant secretary of the Constitutional Party, led by her father, Lord Strickland, shortly after he became leader of the Opposition in the Maltese Legislative Assembly in 1921 and continued to be by his side until his death in 1940.
She took an active part in the National Assembly, which drafted the 1947 self-government Constitution. When the Constitutional Party was reconstituted in 1950, she won one of its four seats in Parliament. She was re-elected in 1951 but broke with her party in 1952 and went on to set up the Progressive Constitutional Party.
She remained active in politics even though she was not elected in neither 1953 nor 1955, at a time when Dom Mintoff was pushing to integrate Malta with Britain.
She had a leading role in the 1962 election, which was overshadowed by the Church-Labour dispute. When elected to Parliament, she strongly opposed independence, which Nationalist prime minister George Borg Olivier was actively seeking on grounds that Malta still depended heavily on British defence spending and on Britain itself for its security at the height of the Cold War.
Her fears were allayed when Borg Olivier concluded a 10-year defence treaty and financial agreement with Britain and she cooperated to make a success of independence.
She failed to make it to Parliament in 1966 and, again, in 1971 – the last election she contested. She continued to take an active part in politics through her newspapers, the Times of Malta, The Sunday Times of Malta and Il-Berqa.
Among her accomplishments, Strickland championed women’s rights more than 25 years before women obtained the right to vote in the country. She believed that a nation without its women was only half a nation.
“Mabel made a sound contribution towards the granting of the vote for women, though, of course, it was Labour that ultimately pushed the move forward,” notes Victor Aquilina, former editor of the Times of Malta.
In 1931, well before the National Assembly considered the issue, she had raised a petition calling for equality of rights for women in political life.
“The petition, submitted to the Malta Royal Commission of 1931, was signed by over 400 women, quite a substantial number for the time,” Aquilina remarks.
“The signatories told the Commission: ‘We sincerely believe that women’s influence and increased participation in the public life of Malta will be conducive to the better government of these islands… So one can say that she opened the door of politics to women,” he comments.
Through her newspapers, Strickland fought for the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press, issues that remain in the forefront even today.
She ensured that her newspapers never missed an issue during the war, even when the printing press was twice hit by enemy bombs
“Since she had been involved, from the very start, in the development and publication of her father’s early newspapers and, later, in the newspapers she herself edited, the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta, she relentlessly fought for freedom of expression and freedom of the press, which, together, make up a basic human right,” Aquilina says.
Laurence Grech, former editor of The Sunday Times of Malta, too, believes Strickland left an indelible mark on journalism.
“Mabel was a symbol of courage and determination also in journalism,” he says. “She ensured that her newspapers never missed an issue during the war, even when the printing press was twice hit by enemy bombs.”
The newspaper continued to appear on the newsstands even during a sit-in by striking employees in 1972 and the burning of Strickland House in 1979, he is quick to add.
“She made her mark in journalism through her sheer efforts in keeping her newspapers going throughout the war,” reiterates Aquilina. “This was no mean feat when there were so many shortages and when quite a number of workers at the press were conscripted into the services. People at Strickland House remembered her directing the staff like a general.”
Speaking of staff, Strickland is renowned for “genuinely” having the interest of her employees at heart.
“She never failed to respond generously to requests for funding education or help on humanitarian grounds, whether it was medical treatment or financial difficulties. In one case I know of, she even provided rent-free accommodation to an employee and his family,” Grech says.
“She also provided training opportunities abroad for her journalists, thanks to her contacts in the Commonwealth Press Union and elsewhere.”
Strickland had a formidable personality, “in more sense than one”, he says, noting she was equally at ease with royalty, statesmen, aristocrats and the common people.
Aquilina describes her as having a very strong character: “She was challenging and litigious, exactly like her father. She could be arrogant and, at times, even rude and haughty. But she could also be generous, kind and, sometimes, even a bit of a clown.”
He lauds her high moral values, as evidenced when she retracted a proposal for union with Britain when she was told that, as an integral part of England, Malta would have been subject to the full acceptance of its laws, including those about divorce and civil marriage.
“She had then felt this was impossible for a Catholic country,” he points out.
Her leadership qualities, Aquilina feels, reached their height during the war.
“As she grew older, she became more domineering and more difficult to work with. She was prone to changing her views far too quickly and, administratively, she was far from top notch,” he recalls.
Strickland died on November 29, 1988, aged 89, leaving the newspapers as her major legacy.
“She believed in giving the best service to readers, always adopting the latest technology and employing the best staff, offering them various training opportunities to be able to do so,” Grech notes. “It is to her credit that her newspapers enjoyed, and still enjoy, a high reputation for their credibility, objective reporting, balanced views and sound principles, all of which she constantly inculcated in her editors and journalists.”