Joseph Attard Kingswell

Joseph Attard Kingswell (1925 - 2002) was a Maltese trade unionist and diplomat. He served as General Secretary to the General Workers Union, the largest Trade Union in Malta; as well as being the Ambassador for Malta in Belgium and the Ambassador Extraordinary in Norway. He was also the editor of “It-Torċa”, a newspaper issued by the Union, from 1958 to 1967. He travelled abroad on international assignments by I.C.F.T.U from 1959.

Joseph was a delegate for the workers at I.L.O. Conferences since 1955. He had acted as industrial adviser to the Government of Malta and to the Malta Labour Party in Malta and in London and was a member of several Government Boards and Committees. He was a member of the Duke of Edinburgh Commonwealth Conference in Canada in 1960.

Joseph was a member of the Anglo-Maltese Joint Mission in 1967 and member of the Steering Committee.

In 1968 Mr Attard Kingswell was chosen by the Confederation of Civic Councils (Malta) and awarded a Silver Medal of Merit on behalf of the Maltese Nation. The Medal of Merit was awarded to those who had shown special merit or had given exception service to Malta. In 1992 Joseph was made Member of the National Order of Merit which carries the denomination of U.O.M.

During the turbulent 60’s and 70’s, and due to political machinations, Joseph had been removed from the General Workers Union on the pretext that he had helped the government of the day finalise a deal with the British Government regarding the redundancies and compensation of workers employed with the UK Services on the rundown of the military bases in Malta. Another clash had been his opposition to the unification of the Union with the Malta Labour Party, as Joseph felt that such a union was not in the interest of the workers.

Between 1987 and 1996 he served as advisor to Prime Minister Fenech Adami, with special responsibilities for Malta Drydocks and Marsa Shipbuilding.

Mr. Attard Kingswell passed away after a short battle with cancer in 2002 at the age of 77.

(See – The Times of Malta, September 21st, 1968, and other Maltese media)