Farsons Prize for Best History (Honours) Dissertation 2026

2026 was another bumper year for the Department of History, with 18 students finishing their studies at BA honours level and another four finishing at BA.

For the honours students, the department takes a particular interest in the research-based dissertation that they have to submit towards the completion of the course. Typically, these dissertations are of very high standard and reflect both the individual research interests of the student and the personal care provided by the assigned academic supervisor.

For quite a number of years now, the Farsons Foundation has been awarding a Prize for the Best History Honours Dissertation. While most dissertations were of excellent standard, with many achieving an ‘A’ grade, two stood out in particular, having obtained an ‘A+’ grade. The History Department therefore agreed to nominate the candidates jointly for the prize.

The students are Adam John Vassallo (photo, left) and Samuel Cedric Farrugia (photo, right).

Adam John Vassallo’s dissertation is entitled, ‘A Man Between Two Islands: Gerald Strickland as Anglo-Maltese (c.1927-c.1930)’. It seeks to explore the impact of Strickland’s dual nationality on his political life during the years 1927 to 1930, when he was simultaneously Head of the Ministry in Malta and a member of the British Parliament. This study shines a spotlight on Strickland’s Anglo-Maltese status as an integral part of his career, political outlook, and relationship with the British establishment, and thereby aims to better understand the many nuances, peculiarities, and contradictions that existed in these areas. It also highlights the logistics of a not-so-young man trying to live two different lives in two different countries. The research drew on multiple archival sources, some previously untapped.

Adam has loved history since he was a child, and has so far chosen to pursue that passion at every level of study, including at university. He wanted to write about Strickland because he found him to be a very interesting figure with few parallels elsewhere in Maltese history, or indeed British Imperial history. More specifically, Adam was inclined to write about this topic as he himself is both Maltese and British, and so was drawn to the question of how Strickland’s binational duality affected him. Now that he has completed his honours degree in History, he will be pursuing his Master’s in History at University College London, starting in September.

Samuel Cedric Farrugia’ wrote ‘An Investigation into Maltese Uniformed-Services Equipment c. 1970-1995’. It is a material culture and qualitative research investigation into the small arms and light weapons provided to, and used by, the Armed Forces of Malta from 1970 to 1995. Drawing on a large number of primary sources from British, German, and Maltese archives, the work not only considers what weapons were used by the forces but also seeks to see what the presence of these arms, from Kalashnikovs to Nazi machine guns, from Chinese rifles to British mortars, and everything in between, can tell us about Malta’s security status. The work explores the interlink between military and politics; the balancing of priorities; Malta’s relationship with unconventional partners; and other considerations for an island whose first line of defence was neutrality rather than the gun.

Samuel has always been a student of history, since boyhood wandering about the British Museum and the Imperial War Museum. His particular interest in the Cold War, the limited coverage of Malta’s post-war broader military situation and curiosity about the history of Malta’s defence forces led him to his research. The story melds into obscurity after 1970. Moreover, Malta’s Cold War history holds many interesting stories that are not broadly discussed despite their relative uniqueness. As such, his dissertation was an attempt to start pulling the layers back, a piece at a time, and document the history of Malta’s own armed services.

Congratulations to both!