There is more than one Giuseppe Borg in my family tree – this is the quintessential generic Maltese name, after all. It makes research harder because everything needs to be triple-checked. This Giuseppe ran a wine shop in Valletta next to the popular Victoria Gate.

He is one of my paternal great-grandfathers.

He was born at 06:00¹ on Wednesday 2 February 1887¹ in Valletta¹, son of Carmelo Borg¹ and Giovanna ¹ née Parteca².

His parents named him Giuseppe Salvatore Giorgio¹, indicating he should be known as Giuseppe¹. Carmelo declared his son’s birth with the government’s office the following week, on Wednesday 9 February¹.

Family

On Sunday 21 February 1909², he married Susanna Xuereb² in the parish church of Stella Maris, Sliema. Parish priest F V Manchè officiated at the wedding².

It’s interesting to see that while the formal declaration lists Susanna’s surname as “Scuereb”, the act in the government records declare her to be “Xuereb”. It is another case of English vs Italian phonetics used before there was a standardised way of writing Maltese names.

Together they had 7 children:

• Paolo³
• Emmanuele
• Maria Concetta
• Lucy
• Gina
• Dolly
• Anthony

Notable events

In 1908 he described himself as a “lavorante” (EN: Labourer, or worker)². By 1913, he described himself as a “Bottegajo” (EN: Shopkeeper, especially related to wine)³. By 1936 he was a merchant⁴.

He had a shop outside Victoria Gate in Valletta, and his name was still visible above the portal till the early 1980s. Victoria Gate was the prime entry point into the city for tradesmen and for the British Navy which would berth in the harbour. This made it one of the busiest parts of Valletta.

He moved to Sliema before marriage².

The electoral register for 1920 lists one Giuseppe Borg living in Sliema at 22/51, Prince of Wales Street, Sliema⁵. It’s hard to tell if this refers to him, but the address makes sense because it would have fallen within the parish of Stella Maris (where he married) and, later, the parish of Sacro Cuor where his son married.

Either way, he lived in Sliema for the rest of his life.

Death

He died on 28 September 1931⁶.

References

1. Act of birth of Giuseppe Borg. (1887). Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Act of marriage of Giuseppe Borg and Susanna Xuereb. (1909). Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Act of birth of Paolo Borg. (1913). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 28 Aug. 2024][↩][↩]
4. Act of marriage of Paul Borg and Mary Borg. (1936). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 4 Sep. 2024][↩]
5. Archive.org. (2025). Electoral register for Malta – 1920. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20180723012719/http://website.lineone.net/~stephaniebidmead/1920.htm [Accessed 9 Feb. 2025][↩]
6. Research conducted by the Lanfranco family[↩]