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Military Music in Britain

The Diary of a Victorian Bandsman

British publishers of military music 1770-1880

 

 

 

The Diary of a Victorian Military Bandsman

Shepherd’s career with the band

With the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, militia regiments were embodied. From the end of February 1855 until the following December, the 1st Devon Militia was stationed at Newport, Gwent, and Shepherd’s memories of the period make it clear that the band had a function beyond the purely military. While in South Wales they undertook a number of engagements at civilian events. Shepherd remembers playing at a flower show in Usk and at the opening of the Crumlin Viaduct. Such engagements were not at all unusual – reports of them can easily be found in newspapers of the period (see Illustrations 3, 4 and 5, for example).

The Times, Tuesday, August 16, 1836
Illustration 3:The Times, Tuesday, August 16, 1836
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The Times, Thursday, July 12, 1838
Illustration 4: The Times, Thursday, July 12, 1838
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The Times, Thursday, July 22, 1858
Illustration 5:The Times, Thursday, July 22, 1858
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Shepherd also remembers the band’s involvement in the opening of the East Bute Dock in Cardiff, which took place on 20 July 1855. The 1st Devon Militia took part both in a great parade that made its way from Cardiff Castle to the docks, and in the subsequent festivities. Several other bands were also involved, and the Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian (21 July 1855, p. 6) reported that:

Music, which is the chief attraction in processions of this character, was also heard to advantage. Various popular airs were rendered in a highly creditable manner, and delighted the assembled multitudes during the time the procession wended its way to the docks, and subsequently at intervals during the morning.

Amongst the other bands, Shepherd was clearly impressed by ‘a very excellent one’ that had come ‘down from the Hills from Some Ironworks’ (p. 4). This was the Cyfarthfa Band, a quite brilliant virtuoso band, which was actually established as a private band – not a works band as Shepherd supposed – by Robert Thompson Crawshay, the great magnate who owned the Cyfarthfa ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, some 25 miles north of Cardiff. (There is much more about the Cyfarthfa Band elsewhere on this website.) The report rather gives the impression that the Cyfarthfa Band was regarded as the musical highlight of the event, and that the other bands were largely there to make up the numbers, informing readers, for example, that:

The colonel of the Devon Militia, stationed at Newport…kindly permitted the regimental band to attend to increase the effect of the procession. Robert Crawshay, Esq., of Cyfarthfa Castle, also obligingly placed his superior band at the disposal of the committee.

The reporter may not have intended to cast aspersions on the band of the 1st Devon Militia, but it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Cyfarthfa Band was a source of much greater excitement. It certainly seems to have been the Cyfarthfa Band that took pride of place in the opening ceremonies (according to the newspaper account, it was the only band that played to mark the entry of the first ships into the new dock). However, the Royal Glamorgan and 1st Devon Militia bands were called upon to play later in the day at a dinner presided over by the Mayor, supplying ‘appropriate airs between the toasts’.

From Newport, the regiment was sent to Limerick, where it remained until peace was declared in 1856. Again, Shepherd recalls the band performing regularly at civilian functions, including a weekly engagement to play in Perry Square, and numerous concerts and balls such as the highly topical concert ‘in aid of Miss Nitingales fund’ (p. 10).

The regiment was ordered home in June 1856. (The voyage was not without incident – Shepherd describes nearly being shipwrecked off Cornwall (pp. 12-13), an episode that was covered as high drama in the pages of the Exeter Gazette for 21 June.) They landed at Weymouth, and Shepherd recalls the band playing ‘Nelly Bly’ and ‘The Old Folks at Home’ as they marched into barracks (p.14). Before their march back to Exeter, the regiment was presented with new colours (p. 15). Weymouth was clearly thrown into a state of tremendous excitement by the ceremony, and the event was reported in detail in the Weymouth Journal. Here Shepherd seems to have got his dates wrong by several days, as he gives 22 July as the date of the ceremony, whereas it is actually reported in the newspaper on 18 July in the following terms:

The Presentation of Colours to the 1st Devon Militia took place on Tuesday afternoon last…The spot selected for the presentation was a most delightful one – it being no other than the Nothe. The prospect therefrom was most charming and varied. The gradual declivity rendered the sight easily to be seen by all. A view of it could also be obtained from the Pier, and from the Esplanade. The number of persons gathered together was very great, and amongst them were many of the élite of the town and the neighbourhood, as well as several of the Officers of the Dorset Militia, attired in regimental dress.

Shortly before three o’clock, the Regiment left the barracks, and proceeded to the Nothe, headed by their excellent band, playing in a spirited manner the Parade March ‘Minnie’. On arriving at the ground the whole of them formed in a line two deep, and then three sides of a square. The small drums were then piled around the large one, the Colours resting on them. The Colours are two in number; they were manufactured by Hawkes & Moseley, of London. The Queen’s Colour is a beautiful one; it is a Union Jack with the words ‘The 1st Devon Militia’ inscribed in the middle. The other Colour is still more beautiful; encircled by flowers is the Castle of Exeter, under which is the motto, ‘Semper Fidelis,’ round both of which are the words, ‘The 1st Devon Militia’.

The proceedings are described at length, and the report continues:

The ceremony of ‘trooping’ the Colours next took place, the band playing the ‘British Grenadiers’. The escort for the Colours then ‘stood fast,’ and the Colours having been carried to the opposite corner of the field…the escort proceeded there, headed by the band, playing the ‘Grenadier March’. On arriving where the colours were placed, the band again played the National Anthem. The Lieutenants, bearing the Colours, and the escort then marched past the Regiment, preceded by the band performing the Parade March. The escort for the Colours having retaken their position, the whole regiment formed into four divisions, marched, in review in slow and quick time, past the noble and gallant Colonel, the band being situated just opposite him…The Regiment then formed a line, and gave a general salute, the band playing ‘God Save the Queen’. Having formed into rank and file of four deep, they marched to the barracks, preceded by the band, playing a quick march.

This interesting and grand even can scarcely be described…Such a scene has not lately taken place in the neighbourhood of Weymouth. (Quoted in Walrond 1897, pp. 348-54)

Subsequent years seem not to have matched the excitement of Shepherd’s period of service during the Crimean War. He dispatches the 1860s in a single sentence, and deals briefly with the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. The high points of this period were his appointments in 1874 as Sergeant of the Band and in 1878 as Sergeant of the Staff. He was discharged from the regiment on 14 July 1889, aged 57, having served 35 years. However, his memoir does not stop there. His devotion to the band was such that, although he had received his discharge, he retained his position as a bandsman until 1906 or 1907 – the memoir suggests that he had not actually retired at the time of writing (p. 31). It is not clear what arrangement allowed him to carry on, or whether this was routine or unusual, but it is clear that it was the case.

Shepherd’s longevity as a bandsman may have made him something of a minor local celebrity, for in 1888 he was mentioned in the Exeter Gazette (21 June) in a report on the presentation of the new colours: ‘the only man on parade who has been with the old colours since their presentation in 1856 was “old Shephard,” as he is known among his comrades, now a Sergeant in the Band.’ The report goes on to describe the ceremony:

The ceremony opened with the trooping of the old Colours, an exceedingly pretty incident. Playing a slow march the Band and Drums went from the right to the left of the line, and on reaching the old Colours they changed front, halted, and ceased playing. At the command…the Guards then sloped arms, the Sentries on the Colours sloping at the same time. The Band then returned along the line in quick time, playing the old Devonshire tune, ‘Tom Cobley,’…When in front of the line the Band ceased playing, fronted, came to the halt, and the ‘Drummers’ call’ was beat. A few interior movements followed…The Escort company then took close order, and preceded by the Band playing the ‘British Grenadiers,’ moved out of the line, wheeled to the left, and marched straight to the Colours. The Sergeant-Major received the Colours, and in turn handed them over to the Lieutenants. The Escort next presented arms…and the Band played ‘God save the Queen’. The Colours were then carried along the line, which had shouldered arms, and the Band played the ‘Grenadiers’ March,’ more commonly known as the ‘Old Point of War,’ and soon afterwards the old Colours were marched off the parade ground, the Band playing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.

The Bishop of Exeter then consecrated the new colours, and the hymn ‘Brightly Gleams our Banner’ was sung to the band’s accompaniment. Speeches followed, and the ceremony concluded:

[T]he Colours were received with a general salute. The Colour party then marched in slow time to its place in the line, the band playing the National Anthem…Subsequently, the men were marched off the parade ground…to the old marching tune of the Regiment, and thus ended a most picturesque and successful ceremony. (Quoted in Walrond 1897, pp. 391-400)

Again Shepherd’s memory seems to have failed him a little here, as he recalls this happening in 1887 (p. 23).

The beginning of the twentieth century provided another period of duty (1900-1901) ‘on account of the South African War’ (p. 24). He recalls this episode in some detail, partly because it was so recent, but also no doubt because of the excitement of the regiment and its band again leaving Devon, to be stationed this time in Jersey. As in South Wales and Ireland, the band played for civilian engagements – indeed, the arrival of a military band created so much interest that they were booked before they had even set sail for Jersey (p. 26).

This is the only point in the memoir where Shepherd also gives a sense of the band’s duties in the Mess, recalling an evening when they were playing ‘a Selection called the Unfinished Symphony’ to entertain the officers. It was to be unfinished in more ways than one – as Shepherd recounts, the mess steward interrupted the performance to announce the death of Queen Victoria (p. 27).

Shepherd recalls funeral services for the Queen at which the band played over the ensuing days – though, as he says, there was no music in the Mess for several weeks (pp. 27-8). It is one of the few points in the memoir where he mentions repertoire. There was a service at the parish church in St Helier where the band played funeral marches by Beethoven and Chopin, and a repeat of the same service in the afternoon because so many people were unable to get in to the morning service. At another service, the band played Handel’s ‘Dead March’ from Saul.

The regiment left Jersey in July 1901, but the band was given permission to remain behind for more than two months to fulfil civilian engagements (p. 29) – a mark of the importance of military bands in civilian musical entertainment, particularly for communities outside the big metropolitan centres.

Shepherd’s account, backed by newspaper reports of the some of the events at which the band played, says enough about repertoire and about the varied contexts within which the band performed to illustrate the nature and breadth of military band repertoire, the striking variety of functions of a regimental band, and its significance in civilian life as a source of musical entertainment in an era that predated the mass availability of radio and recorded music.