Coldstram Guards 1st Life Guards Drummer Trumpeter State Dress 6th Dragoon Guards
Carabiniers
4th Dragoon Guards 5th Dragoon Guards Royal Irish Princess of Wales's Highland Light Infantry
Bugler
The British Army has always been fond of its bands. From the 1660s troops have gone into battle to the sound of drums and fifes. During the Napoleonic Wars, the drummers and fifers, often young boys, were in the squares risking their lives with the infantrymen.
As the 19th century progressed, bands became more popular, especially on the march. The instruments became more sophisticated and by the 1860s, bands like the ones of the Guards, Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers were considered first class musicians. By the end of the century, every regiment had a band, including mounted ones. They wore distinctive uniforms embellished with elements that were unique to them.
The band would lead the battalion on the march, everywhere in the world, especially India. Rudyard Kipling said it this way:
"Eight hundred fightin' Englishmen, the Colonel and the band!"
2nd Life Guards
1st Life Guards Royal Horse Guards
(State Dress) (State Dress)
Royal Horse Guards
Trumpeter
13th Hussars
Trumpeter
2nd Dragoon Guards 3rd Dragoon Guards
(Queen's Bays) Prince of Wales's
1st King's Dragoon Guards
Royal Fusiliers The Queen's Regt
Bandsman Royal West Surrey
Drummer
PLATE 1
PLATE 2
PLATE 3
PLATE 4
BRITISH MILITARY BANDS
1900
PLATE 5
Northumberland Fusiliers
Bass Drummer St. Georges Day
1st Royal Dragoons 2nd Dragoons Royal Scots Greys 7th Dragoon Guards Princess Royal's
Irish Guards East Kent Regiment (The Buffs)
Fifer Bandsman
The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
Bandsman
3rd Hussars 4th Hussars
(King's Own) The 5th Royal Irish Lancers (Queen's Own)
King's Royal Rifle Corps The Connaught Rangers
Bugler Bandsman
PLATE 6
The Suffolk Regiment King's Own Scottish Borderers Bandsman Bandsman 7th Hussars
(Queen's Own)
6th Inniskilling Dragoons The 8th King's
Hussars
The Royal Scots Fusiliers
Sergeant Drummer (Drum Major)
PLATE 7
The Rifle Brigade
Bandsman
9th Lancers 10th Hussars
(Queen's Royal) Prince of Wales's Own
Grenadier Guards The Scots Guards
Bandsman Sergeant Piper (Pipe Major)
11th Prince Albert's Own Hussars
PLATE 8
The Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Drum Major & Goat
13th Hussars 12th Lancers
Prince of Wales's
Scottish Rifles Gordon Highlanders Bandsman Piper
14th King's Hussars
PLATE 9
The Devonshire Regiment
Sergeant Drummer (Drum Major)
15th King's Hussars 15th King's Hussars Walking out Banners
Royal Irish Rifles Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders
Bandsman Drummer
PLATE 10
18th Hussars 19th Hussars
17th Lancers
Seaforth Highlanders Durham Light Infantry Piper Bugler
PLATE 11
20th Hussars
Royal Irish Regt Queen's Own
Bandsman Royal West Kent Regt
Bandsman
The 21st Empress of India's Lancers
Off Side banner Near side Banner
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
Sergeant Drummer (Drum Major)
PLATE 12
Royal Artillery Royal Engineers
Bandsman Bandsman
Royal Artillery Mounted Band
Royal Horse Artillery Royal Field Artillery Trumpeter Trumpeter
Many of the uniforms and bands above are shown in the Victorian Army Section. Including the Drum Banner designs in detail
To access this section click on the image below.
This series by W.J. Gordon and illustrated by S. Stansell was published by Frederick Warne & Co Ltd in 1900
The plates appeared in Tradition Magazine
