The Rizzo Marich Dynasty and the Tobacco Industry in Malta

The tobacco shop of the Rizzo Marich family, known as V. Marich & Co., was situated in a very prominent place in the city of Valletta: on Palace Square. It was not just any shop but a smoking divan, a popular rendezvous point for Maltese gentry, naval and military senior officers, where they could smoke, relax, and discuss the latest topics of the day. V. Marich & Co. was established in 1838 and closed in November 1959—a span of 120 years in which the tobacco industry had to face various challenges.

Noel Toledo, who holds a B.A. (Hons) in Public Administration, started his career within the Public Service in 1984 and has held various senior positions since then, the last being that of Director in Market Surveillance. Having resigned in 2012, he started working as a private consultant in product safety. His work has taken him to most EEA countries and has assisted various governments in candidate countries as well as Mongolia, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. He has a keen interest in family genealogy.

opposite:

Vincenzo Marich (1813–1866)

The original owner of this tobacco business was Vincenzo Marich (Fig. 2), born around 1813 in Malta, to Captain Antonio Marich (born in Dubrovnik, Croatia) and his Maltese wife, Maddalena Lorè. Vincenzo registered the business way back in 1838 when he was 25 years old, and six years after his marriage to Natalizia. Its establishment was possibly the oldest of its kind in Malta.1

Unfortunately, Vincenzo and Natalizia did not have any children and eventually left their business to Lawrence Rizzo on condition that Lawrence appends the surname ‘Marich’ to his own, thus eventually known as ‘Lawrence

Rizzo Marich’. Vincenzo and Lawrence were actually related to each other; their mothers were first cousins.

The Rizzo Marich Family

The tobacco shop of Lawrence Rizzo Marich was at that time extremely popular among English as well as Maltese gentlemen. Indeed, seldomly would one have seen a better-appointed tobacconist’s establishment than that of Messrs V. Marich & Co.2 On 4 November 1862, Lawrence received a letter from Wilford Brett, who was at the time the Private Secretary to the Governor of Malta, stating that the Prince of Wales himself had given him permission to affix ‘By appointment to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales’ over the door of his establishment. This was regarded as a great honour to him and his business.

During Lawrence’s lifetime, the business V. Marich & Co. was flourishing and, indeed, made a very good name and living for himself. Lawrence also owned a summer house in Sliema. In 1882, he sat on the committee that organised the festive activities of the Sacro Cuor Parish Church in Sliema, one year after the church was inaugurated and opened to the public.3

The family tree on the opposite page (Fig. 3) shows the genealogical relations of just the men within the Rizzo Marich family (together with their respective spouses), who were taking care of the business at some point in their life. Therefore, at the top of the family tree is Lawrence Rizzo Marich, as the first generation.

The next generation taking care of the business was Alfred and Joseph Rizzo Marich. In 1888, when Alfred was managing the business, Messrs V. Marich & Co. were appointed as cigar and tobacco merchants to H.R.H. the

Duke of Edinburgh. In the 1890s, besides supplying Navy and Army messes and clubs, V. Marich & Co. was already exporting cigars and tobacco to the U.K. and to the East, having agents established in the U.K., Channel Islands and Bermuda. Alfred passed away in 1897. V. Marich & Co. then entered into an agreement with A. G. Cousis & Co. to manufacture Marich cigarettes around the beginning of the twentieth century when Joseph Rizzo Marich was running the business. From adverts found in foreign newspapers, it seems that they started selling and exporting cigarettes from around 1905 onwards.

The sons of Alfred—Arthur and Edward—were the third and final generation that ran the business. Throughout the second decade of the twentieth century, during the era of Edward and Arthur Rizzo Marich, the business, in particular exports, continued to increase. In 1922, they were also appointed as the cigarette manufacturers to H.R.H. the Prince

Wales.

V. Marich & Co. and the Tobacco Industry in Malta

Before 1615, smoking in any form was not yet that popular in Italy. By the following decade, however, its use had spread like wildfire all over the land. The same, almost certainly, occurred in Malta.4

During the seventeenth and eighteenth century, pipe smoking gained popularity with both the working class as well as aristocrats, the difference being in the quality of the tobacco pipe used as well as the tobacco itself. In the case of tobacco chewing, this was a habit employed mostly by sailors in consequence of the ban of smoking on board ships.

The popularity of snuff within aristocratic circles led to snuff boxes becoming objets d’art, symbols that reflected the wealth and rank of their owner. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, snuff boxes were popular among the wealthier citizens and were usually given as diplomatic gifts.

The tobacco industry in the mid-nineteenth century in Malta was employing large amounts of workers. By the 1850s, V. Marich & Co. was possibly one of the most reputable tobacco establishments at the time. The cottage industry was mostly prevalent during this period, with women and children being utilised extensively in the production process. The main production was cigars which were again mainly manufactured by hand. The census of the Maltese Islands records a peak of 1,854 workers employed in the tobacco sector in 1861, the highest ever recorded, out of which 1,822 were female workers. Additionally, it is worth noting that out of these female workers, 479 were between fifteen to nineteen years of age and an additional 326 were under fifteen years of age.

By the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the following one, cigar smoking was falling out of favour due to the ever-increasing popularity in

(Courtesy opposite, top: Figs 5-6

Advert in The Tatler, September 1909; Advert in The Tatler, June 1920.

(Courtesy of opposite, below: Fig. 7

Hard

(Courtesy of the Toledo family) cigarette smoking. Additionally, a number of other tobacco companies had been established, some of which were employing over 200 employees. Notwithstanding this, V. Marich & Co. continued to further establish itself in the early twentieth century, utilising A.G. Cousis to manufacture their Marich cigarettes for both the local market as well as abroad. The First World War created the right environment to further boost the tobacco industry.

In the early part of the twentieth century, they sold cigarettes and cigars to the rich and famous. These included Admirals, Dukes, Governors of Malta, and the Princes and Kings of England. Among its many distinguished patrons were H.M. the late King Edward VII and H.R.H. the Duke of Windsor, whose Royal Appointment was held by V. Marich & Co. when he was Prince of Wales (Fig. 5).

V. Marich & Co. was thriving right up to the late 1920s. Besides making hand-rolled cigarettes and cigars from imported Turkish tobacco, V. Marich & Co. also sold pipes, tobacco, matches, whisky, and possibly other kinds of drinks. They were the agents for Dawson Scotch whisky and sold this together with their tobacco products to various bars and the military services. The business flourished, and they exported products to several major cities, having various agents across the world. These included:

• Paterson & Co., Billiter Buildings, Eastern Central London;

• J.V. Belford, Halkett Place, Jersey, Channel Islands;

• John A.P. Pitt, 40 Front Street, Hamilton Bermuda (agent to the whole Caribbean);

• S.J. Frank, Liberty Street, New York;

• Ellul & Linares, Main Street, Gibraltar;

• N. Dott & Co., 98 Cliver Street, Kolkata (Calcutta), India;

• Patton Co., S.A., 19 San Juan de Lerren, Mexico.

Marich cigarettes were also available in South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and throughout the British Colonies. V. Marich & Co. transacted a substantial wholesale as well as retail trade and supplied naval and military messes and clubs.5

Competition in the cigarette market continued to intensify over time. Importation of tobacco from America started to increase substantially, and Virginia tobacco became quite popular in Malta. Most of the cigarette manufacturers, even those which traditionally specialised in Turkish tobacco, such as V. Marich & Co, started producing cigarettes made from Virginia tobacco. Even though there was an initial increase in employment for the first few years of the 1930s, by the end of this decade the tobacco industry was experiencing several problems. It was during this time that V. Marich & Co. seems to have also slowed down its exports. Its last known adverts in British newspapers appeared in 1932.

A. G. Cousis & Co., the manufacturing company which produced all the Marich cigarettes for V. Marich & Co., closed by the early 1930s. However, V. Marich & Co. continued to manufacture cigarettes possibly with the assistance from another tobacco manufacturer. Yet, the last known testimonial which V. Marich & Co. used to collect regarding their Marich cigarettes was written in 1939. No other testimonials were forthcoming, thus reconfirming that they probably were not producing as many cigarettes after this date.

In 1938, V. Marich & Co. received approval to include the tag ‘By Appointment of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (1922–1936)’. Cigarettes were produced after 1938 and indeed during the war as well. 1939 saw the beginning of the Second World War. Owing to Malta’s exposed position and its proximity to Italy, the British moved the headquarters of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet from Valletta, Malta, in the mid-1930s to Alexandria in October 1939. Taking into account that the sale of tobacco was very much entwined with the British Services, the movement of the fleet to Egypt possibly had a negative effect on the tobacco industry too.

By June 1941, Malta was also under attack. The ‘smoking divan’ of V. Marich & Co. ‘was virtually deserted and with cracked walls and their business ruined’, according to Rear-Admiral G.W.G. Simpson C.B., C.B.E in his book Periscope View. This was the time during the Second World War when Valletta was being heavily bombed. Indeed, for two years, between 1942 and 1944, the business was operated from Sliema.

As from 1947 onwards, V. Marich & Co. had completely stopped producing cigarettes and were instead importing them. The era of ‘smoking divans’ was possibly over by then and the shop began focussing more on the sale of spirits, cigarettes, and other related articles. They became distributors for du Maurier cigarettes and, later, sole agents for Four Square cigarettes.

Unfortunately, 1953 was not a good year for Arthur Rizzo Marich, the last owner of V. Marich & Co. Edward, Arthur’s brother and partner in business, died in 1953 at the age of sixty-three. Arthur’s wife, Mercedes Carreras, also passed away during the same year. Arthur’s children by then were all grown up, married, and all had their own careers. It seems that none of their children were interested in running the business.

In 1959, at the age of seventy-one, Arthur finally dissolved the business and sent a letter to the Privy Purse Office in Buckingham Place to cancel the Royal Appointment to the Prince of Wales that was granted to V. Marich & Co. The confirmation of this cancellation was received on 23 November 1959. This was the official termination of the business, bringing its legacy, which started way back in 1838, to a complete end. This, incidentally, marks the end of over a 120–year era characterised by numerous successes and challenges in the Islands’ tobacco industry.

A business arrangement took place between V. Marich & Co. and Caffe Cordina, who had their cafeteria internally adjacent to the shop of V. Marich & Co. at 44 Palace Square, Valletta. The tenancy was transferred on to Caffe Cordina in 1960. Arthur Rizzo Marich sadly passed away at the age of seventy-eight in 1966. Caffe Cordina completely integrated the premises of V. Marich & Co. and, today, one can still enjoy coffee and cakes in the same room where the Marich smoking divan was situated whilst looking out onto Palace Square and letting one’s imagination go back in time to the various events that took place there during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Notes

1 Allister Macmillan, Malta and Gibraltar Illustrated (1915), 342.

2 Ibid.

3 Winston L. Zammit, Ftit tagħrif dwar l-organizzazzjoni tal-festa tal-Madonna tas-Sacro Cuor—Sliema. 1882–1991 (Malta: Kummissjoni Festi Parroċċa tas-Sacro Cuor, 1994).

4 Giovanni Bonello, Histories of Malta: Confessions and Transgressions, Vol. 9 (Malta: FPM, 2008), 113.

5 Macmillan (1915), 352.