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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

World War One Military Bands


A.A.Savery

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Third photo another Manchester Pals one of the reserve battalions this time.

Mr John Mulcahy Secretary of the Tyneside Irish Brigade and "Hughie" the Irish Wolfhound the mascot of The Tyneside Irish at the Laying up of the Colour of the 25th Bn NF (2TI), he leads the Band of 9/DLI through Newcastle to Eldon Square where the parade ended

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Royal Fusiliers 21st Battalion - inspected by Sir Archibald Murray at Epsom

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Joined the forum a couple of years ago with all the best intentions, but additions to the family got in the way and I've only just got my life back (or a very small part of it), so managed to find time to join back in again.

Great thread, this is a subject that really interests me, having been an enthuisiastic amateur musician for most of my life. When I joined a kind lady lent me a copy of the book that is referred to earlier in the thread entitled "Bullets & Bandsmen". She was interested in tracing a relative who played with the Royal Artillery Band and I spoke to a contact at Kneller Hall to try and help her. Unfortunately he was unable to supply any information and then my life got overtaken by events, so I wasn't able to repay her kindness by providing her with any further information.

However, the point of my post is that my contact led me to understand that very little is known about any band other than "regular" bands during WW1 and it would seem a subject that has not been documented in any way or form. Unless someone is able to correct me, and it seems to happen very fast on this forum, this is one aspect of military service during the Great War which has not been covered in any great depth.

Thats the gauntlet thrown down!!!!

This is a picture that I came accross on a postcard, I've no other details apart from the fact that it is a picture of the Worcestershire Regiment Band. The writing on the bass drum seems to state "(5) Battalion", followed by the words "Presented by .....". The straps used for supplying tension to the drum skin obscures the rest. The motto "Firm" appears above the "Worcestershire Regiment". Interestingly (to me), the player on the right hand rear rear rank appears to be holding a flugel horn, which I would only expect to see in a brass band. Also two players with Tenor Horns instead of French Horns, the make up of the band is almost a complete brass band, apart from the obvious exception of the four clarinet players.

Thanks to everyone for suppyling the pictures so far, I'll post the rest of my pictures in the next day or so when time permits. If the forum band ever gets off the ground I'm in, anything from baritone down or keyboards/pipe organ.

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Albianco

sorry but if you had looked at page 4 you will see more of the bands of the Tyneside Irish which are well documented, Indeed during my research for my book I was able to establish that the Pipers went over the top on 1/7/16 playing the Minstrel Boy.

The Minstrel boy to the wars has gone

In the ranks of death you will find him

His fathers sword he has girded on

and his wild harp slung behind him.

Although in the posts I have for brevity's sake refrained from naming all the bandsmen

I think its depends on the unit for eg the none of the scottish bans are named.

regards

John

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I understand that particular units may have more known about them than others, due to the enthuisism of the researcher, what I was referring to was the lack of any published material on the role, responsibilities etc of bandsmen. You make reference to a book that you have published, what is that please, I would be interested in getting a copy.

I didn't meam to infer that nothing is known about bandsmen, just that to the casual observer, of which I am one, there doesn't seem to be much material published.

Thank you for your pictures, which I have enjoyed enormously.

Regards

albianco/martini, shaken but not stirred.

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The Minstrel boy to the wars has gone

With his wild harp slung behind him

His fathers sword he has girded on

and his wild harp slung behind him.

It's a small correction, but the first verse should actually read:

The Minstrel boy to the war has gone

In the ranks of death you'll find him

His fathers sword he hath girded on

and his wild harp slung behind him.

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May I thank all the recent contributors for some truly wonderful pictures, giving a special mention to John for his great efforts and looking forward to knowing more about the book.

Time for a band members roll call Albianco? A GWF band may not be just a pipe dream, but we may need some sponsors! ;)

Best wishes,

Tony

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Hi

I did post the names of the books but its disappeared

Here is the Buglers of the Wearside Battalion 20/DLI

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These are photo's of the Band of 18/DLI

The two marching are taken as the battalion arrive in Ripon in 1915

The group is taken in camp at Ripon

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Benamore,

That's a great photo! Do you have any more details? Perhaps you could you tell us where it was taken and which bandsman is your grandfather?

Best wishes,

Tony

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Hi Benamore,

That's a great photo! Do you have any more details? Perhaps you could you tell us where it was taken and which bandsman is your grandfather?

Best wishes,

Tony

Hi Tony, my Great Grandfather's name was Thomas Pritchard and in the photo he has a cross above his head. All i can tell you is, I think he was in the 1st/6th RWF and he was at some stage in Egypt where he was wounded. Also in another photo it shows he was a Corporal, regards, Helen.

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Sorry Helen,

I hadn't seen the cross above his head, and that is clearly him judging by the other photo that you posted. Did he play the cornet? He is standing with the cornet section at the back and seems to be holding the cornet to his right.

You said that he was at some stage in Egypt, so this might have been taken there, but on the other hand there are enough sand dunes in Wales for them to have been on training back home.

Cheers,

Tony

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  • 6 years later...
Guest Jim Howell

Newbie here, Thanks to all that have posted photos of the military bands. My interest in this forum/thread comes from two aspects. First, my wife's father played cornet in a band with the AEF, and, second I REALLY like the Alford marches - I play Bass Clarinet with a local civic band. Our band passed out Alford's Voice of the Guns for our summer programs and I was amazed at the differences in my part between what I played 50 yrs back in school, and what I have to play now. It led me to thinking that there might not be "standard" arrangements. That then led me to wondering about the make-up of the military bands in Alford's time. Found this site, and the collection of photos makes it clear that different units played whatever showed up.

So, my primary question at this time is, "Does anyone know if the UK and Commonwealth countries had a "standard" list or protocol of instrumentation for their bands?

TIA,

Jim Howell Huntsville, Alabama

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I wanted to add about the Salvation Army Bands in ww1 who often on a few occasions marched battalions to the train station. It is very possible that a large amount of Salvation Army Bandsman ended up with these military bands.

Jim, In response to your question, Possibly not. It was only later that Brass Bands standardised the instrumentation which is.

1 Soprano Cornet

4 Solo Cornets

1 Repriano Cornet

2 1st Cornets

2 2nd Cornets

1 3rd Cornet.

1 Flugal Horn

1 Solo Horn

1 1st Horn

1 2nd Horn

1 1st Baritone

1 2nd Baritone

1 Solo Euphonium

1 2nd Euphonium

1 Solo Trombone

1 2nd Trombone

1 Bass Trombone

2 Eb Basses

2 Bb Basses

4 percussionists (approx)

that is the modern day instrumentation for a brass band and Orchestras and Wind Bands often follow the same patten. It has to be said that the brass band was in its early stages of infancy so especially in Salvation Army bands there could be times where you had 70 players in the band. I think back in ww1 instrumentation was a lot less standardised especially with the influx of extra musicians thoughout the war.

It could also be a possibility that mainly pre existing musicians (for example those that played with the Salvation Army and Contesting bands) were recruited into these military bands as the time to train a musician up to a proficient standard from scratch would often take many years.

Edited by Guest
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So far as army music goes, there had been a degree of standardisation following the opening of the (Royal) School of Army Music at Kneller Hall in 1857, but that really applied to regular units. Many of the newly raised service battalions created their own bands which were probably more on the basis of available players and instruments.

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  • 1 year later...

I am researching the involvement of the Hood Battalion Band of the Royal Naval Division during the Antwerp expedition in October 1914. The bandsmen were civilian players from Dundee who wore Naval Uniform in the pre war Dundee Company of Clyde Division RNVR but volunteered in August to join up to accompany their mates south. The Band members have unique service numbers and four died in Naval service.

One of their enduring stories concerns the withdrawal from Antwerp. It is popularly assumed that the Band had to abandon their instruments and hid them somewhere in Belgium. A public subscription was raised to replace their instruments and, after the Armistice, the lost instruments were also recovered. Some of the instruments may still be onboard HMS Unicorn in Dundee.

My problem is that I have not been able to find any evidence of the hiding, subscription or recovery. I have been through the Dundee newspapers of the time but am now at a loss. Can anyone suggest a way ahead?

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  • 2 months later...

Forum Pal Wallace2's story about the abandonment (or not) of the Hood Battalion Band's instruments has reminded me about "The Mons Drum”.

This belonged to the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment, and was buried by the Belgians to prevent it’s capture by the Germans when the Regiment retreated from Mons in 1914. It was returned to the Regiment in 1918 and is now in the Regimental Museum at Bankfield Museum, Halifax. I do have an image of it, and I'll have to see if I can post it here.

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