Recent research indicates that military musicians returning from the Napoleonic Wars set up the first brass bands in Britain earlier than was previously recognized. This finding challenges the notion that brass bands were solely a civilian invention stemming from northern England.
Recent research indicates that military musicians returning from the Napoleonic Wars set up the first brass bands in Britain earlier than was previously recognized. This finding challenges the notion that brass bands were solely a civilian invention stemming from northern England.
Traditionally, it has been believed that the origins of brass bands lie with coal miners and industrial communities in northern England and Wales, particularly between the 1830s and 1850s. However, new evidence has emerged that challenges this historical perspective.
A historian from the University of Cambridge has uncovered substantial evidence indicating that the earliest brass bands in Britain were formed by military musicians in the 1810s.
In a study released today in The Historical Journal, Dr. Eamonn O’Keeffe suggests that regimental bands began experimenting with brass-only formats following the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Although wartime bands included woodwind instruments like clarinets and bassoons, O’Keeffe emphasizes that by 1818, the 15th Regiment of Foot had already established a band comprising only bugles, with many regiments forming all-brass bands by 1830, utilizing new instruments developed both domestically and across Europe. For instance, the Life Guards played valved trumpets that had been gifted by the Russian Emperor. Additionally, local defense units organized brass bands, including a volunteer rifle corps in Paisley (1819) and yeomanry troops in Devon (1827) and Somerset (1829).
O’Keeffe also reveals that many of Britain’s earliest non-military brass bands, beginning in the 1820s, were founded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. These groups formed in locations far beyond the northern industrial communities typically associated with brass bands.
The first identified civilian band, according to O’Keeffe, was the Colyton Brass Band, which performed “God Save the King” in a Devon village in November 1828 during a baronet’s son’s birthday celebration. Other examples from later years were found in Chester and Sunderland (both 1829), Derby and Sidmouth (1831), and Poole (1832). By 1834, a brass band in Lincoln was being taught by William Shaw, who had previously served as a trumpeter and bugler in the 33rd Regiment of Foot.
“These results show how deeply integrated brass bands are in British history and culture,” Dr. O’Keeffe stated. He is currently the National Army Museum Junior Research Fellow at Queens’ College, Cambridge, and is part of the University’s Centre for Geopolitics.
“We were aware of their connection to industrialization, but now we understand that brass bands originated from Britain’s conflicts during the Napoleonic era.”
O’Keeffe notably discovered extensive information about a band established by James Sanderson, a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. Sanderson, a former trumpet-major, promoted his “military brass band” in the Leamington Spa Courier in February 1829. Surviving newspaper articles from that summer indicate that this group, which featured keyed bugles, trumpets, French horns, and trombones, performed at various popular local events.
Sanderson’s military pension indicates he was a laborer born in Thrapston, Northamptonshire. He enlisted in the 23rd Light Dragoons, a cavalry regiment, in 1809, fought at Waterloo in 1815, and eventually became the trumpet-major of the 13th Light Dragoons. He left military service in the 1820s due to epilepsy.
On June 29, 1829, the Leamington Spa Courier noted that ‘Sanderson’s Warwick and Leamington Military Brass Band’ performed at a parade commemorating the Battle of Waterloo in Warwick. Wearing his Waterloo medal, Sanderson gathered fellow veterans to the tune of ‘See the conquering hero comes’. On July 1, the Leicester Herald reported that Sanderson’s band entertained around 300 attendees at a village feast in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, inspiring a lively dance.
War and peace
O’Keeffe highlights that the Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815) resulted in a significant increase in British military bands. By 1814, over 20,000 instrumentalists were serving in various capacities within the regular army, militia, and part-time home defense groups.
Many in full-time roles received better pay than regular soldiers, though they remained under military discipline. The majority included fifers, drummers, trumpeters, and buglers, whose music served crucial functions, enhancing military parades and boosting morale. Others were part of regimental bands that enlivened military ceremonies and performed at various public functions, from balls to concerts and civic celebrations.
By examining previously overlooked articles, memoirs, and regimental records, O’Keeffe shows that many men and boys who developed their musical abilities while in military service transitioned into civilian careers as instructors, wind instrumentalists, composers, and even opera singers after demobilization.
Many continued to play in a range of militia and volunteer bands that stayed active long after their military service. Others taught or played in a growing number of amateur wind and all-brass bands, often donning uniforms and purposefully mimicking their military counterparts.
O’Keeffe remarked: “It is commonly believed that brass bands were a distinct new musical genre, separate from military bands. They are typically seen as products of industrialization, developed by a mix of working-class musicians and middle-class patrons.
“However, all-brass bands first appeared in Britain and Ireland in a military context. The military not only produced a large number of bandleaders but also offered a recognizable and appealing model for amateur musicians and audiences. This occurred alongside increasing commercial prospects and a rising belief in the uplifting nature of music.”
O’Keeffe contends that these bands, while quasi-military, appealed to a broad audience, becoming fixtures at seaside resorts, coal mining sites, and political events in the years following Waterloo, rather than being limited to industrial towns in northern England.
“Soldiers returned from the Napoleonic Wars during a severe economic downturn and many faced hardship,” he noted. “Yet, we observe musicians leveraging the skills acquired in the military to adapt and often succeed in civilian life.”
Instruments
The Napoleonic Wars generated an unprecedented demand for brass and other musical instruments. In addition to tracing individual musicians and bands, O’Keeffe investigated how regimental instruments were circulated after the Battle of Waterloo.
Regulation dictated that government-issued drums and bugles be returned to public storage upon demobilization, while band instruments typically belonged to regimental officers. Nonetheless, drummers and band members frequently resisted giving up their instruments.
Seven local militia musicians in Herefordshire petitioned their colonel in 1816, asking for their regimental instruments to be gifted to them, noting that musicians from other disbanded units had previously been allowed to keep their equipment “as a bonus.” They pledged to maintain their weekly practices if granted their request, asserting that “a band will always be ready in the town of Leominster for any occasion.”
Some officers opted to sell the instruments of their disbanded units, creating a wealth of affordable second-hand instruments accessible to amateur musicians and civilian bands during the post-war years.
Early brass bands also embraced innovative instrument designs shared by their military counterparts or introduced by regimental and former regimental musicians. The keyed bugle, invented by an Irish militia bandmaster in 1810, was commonly used by all-brass bands’ initial generation. The popularity of easily accessible saxhorns, distributed by the Distin family from the 1840s onwards, further facilitated the spread of brass bands. The family’s patriarch, John Distin, began his musical journey in the wartime militia.
Enduring tunes
O’Keeffe highlights several tunes originating from military contexts that remained popular with the general public long after Waterloo.
Theatre critics in the 1820s criticized the public’s fascination with ‘Battle Sinfonias‘ and the prevailing ‘mania for staging military bands’. ‘The Downfall of Paris’, a favored regimental quick march, became a staple for street performers in post-war London. A music critic in 1827 lamented the neglect of composers like Bach and Mozart in favor of this tune, stating that every piano teacher “must be able to play and teach” it.
Recalling his childhood in Richmond, North Yorkshire, during the 1820s and 1830s, Matthew Bell characterized a proficient militia band as a ‘very popular’ source of free entertainment for the local poor, claiming it ignited a “‘slumbering talent’ for music in those who were captivated by its martial and inspiring music.”
In 1827, Newcastle historian Eneas Mackenzie noted that ‘The bands attached to the numerous military corps formed during the recent war have significantly spread the knowledge of music. Presently, nearly every major colliery along the Tyne and Wear has its own band.’
O’Keeffe concluded: “Brass bands provided aspiring musicians of all ages opportunities to develop skills and brought communities together through music, a practice that was true in the nineteenth century and continues today.”
Dr. O’Keeffe is currently writing a book on British military music during the Napoleonic Wars.
