Pembroke Army Garrison


Pembroke Garrison is a dispersed collection of former British Army barracks built in the vicinity of Fort Pembroke, northern Malta.

History

Pembroke Garrison developed around a Victorian fortification, a gun emplacement, a barracks, a tented musketry camp, rifle ranges and training areas. St George's Barracks was built first, followed by Fort Pembroke, then St Andrew's Barracks and finally St Patrick's Barracks; built by the British in four main building phases 19th and 20th centuries. Part of the garrison was used as a military hospital during the First World War; during the war Malta's military hospitals and convalescent camps, particularly those at Pembroke, dealt with over 135,000 sick and wounded, most of whom were casualties of the Gallipoli and Salonika campaigns. It remained in use by the British military until 1977. St Patrick's Barracks was not constructed until World War Two.
Army units based at Pembroke Garrison between 1954 and 1967 would have been subordinate to Headquarters Malta and Libya.
At the height of its occupancy the British garrison at Pembroke included St George's, St Patrick's and St Andrew's Barracks, places of worship, firing ranges and Fort Pembroke itself; as well as a military repair base, a medical centre, a military cemetery, a garrison school and other soldier and family welfare facilities.
In May 1940 naval and army families living on the island were moved to Pembroke Garrison. Once St Patrick's barracks were constructed in 1941 Pembroke Garrison would be a critical medical support base for the island.

British Army and Royal Marines units based at Pembroke Garrison

This is not an exhaustive list of the British Army and Royal Marines units that occupied the Pembroke Garrison, but it represents those that are recorded:
;St Georges Barracks - constructed between 1859 and 1862
;St Andrew's Barracks - not occupied until April 1905
;St Paul's Hutments
  • Sick Soldiers' Hospital and Convalescent Camp
  • 53 Command Workshops REME - present during WW2 and up to the 1970s
;St Patrick's Barracks - constructed in 1941
Although the Pembroke Garrison was nominally an Army facility able to house three infantry battalions, it is clear that the Royal Marines had a long post-war association with Pembroke.

Transfer of ownership to the Maltese Government

The bulk of the garrison's sites were decommissioned and handed to the Government of Malta in 1977. The barracks and their environs are now divided into a thriving community of Pembroke made up public and private housing; and a number of notable colleges and schools, many of them located in re-purposed original British Army barrack blocks.
The limestone karst countryside around promotes a unique ecology called garigue which the local authorities are keen to promote as a visitor attraction, along with the military heritage.
;Legacy Pembroke site reuse noted:
  • St George's Barracks - Institute of Tourism Studies.
  • Fort Pembroke and St Andrew's Barracks - the Verdala International School Malta.
  • Pembroke Battery site - all but one emplacement redeveloped as housing.
  • St Andrews Barracks - Pembroke Local Council
  • St Andrew's Barracks - Middlesex University Malta
  • St Andrew's Barracks - STC training college.
  • St Andrew's Barracks - St Michael's School.
  • St Andrew's Barracks - Sprachcaffe residential language school
  • St Andrew's Garrison School and the barrack's sports pitches - The National Sports School
  • St Patrick's Barracks - St Clare College.
St George's Barracks has not survived intact and this probably reflects the fact that after British withdrawal from Malta there was not the imperative and funds that there is now to preserve and use heritage imperial building stock. Australia Hall, the former REME workshops and the White Rocks Officers' Quarters areas are still in need of development and restoration.