The Royal Artillery Band was the first official, and permanent British military band (and former symphony orchestra) originating in 1557, but granted official status in 1762. Consisting of woodwind, brass, and percussion instruments (and from 1787, also stringed instruments), it represented both the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and the state. The Royal Artillery Orchestra (of the Royal Artillery Band) [disbanded on 9 February 2014] was Britain's first permanent professional orchestra.Groves Dictionary of Music & Musicians All other bands in the British Army received official, permanent status from 1763 onward. Now that the band's overall history of over four and a half centuries has come to an end, it is now claimed that the Band of the Grenadier Guards are the oldest band, with their overall history of over three hundred and thirty years. It is however, important to consider that until 1762, all military bands were formed as and when required, and then immediately disbanded when not, and that they consisted only of hired, civilian musicians; becoming integrated professional soldiers in 1762 (in the Royal Artillery) and from 1763 (in all other regiments and corps).
It was announced on 30 July 2013 that the Royal Artillery Orchestra would cease to exist in favour of a forthcoming "State String Orchestra", now known as "The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra" following the most recent cuts to Army Music.
On Sunday 9 February 2014, the Royal Artillery Band, and a specially formed 'Veterans of the Royal Artillery Band' paraded on General Gordon's Square for the last time in their home town of Woolwich, thus ending a 252-year era, before relocating to join their regiment at Tidworth Barracks, Wiltshire The Band spent Christmas 2013 in Afghanistan, where they carried out their wartime role, as well as continuing to entertain the troops, and accompanying such celebrities as Gary Barlow, and Katherine Jenkins. Its former accommodation in the historic Georgian Royal Artillery Barracks became the home of the 24-piece Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra.
In October 2019, it was announced that the band would relocate and subsequently disband, to become one of the forming bands of British Army Band Tidworth.
History The Royal Artillery Band served as the musical arm of the artillery branch of the British Army (the Royal Regiment of Artillery).
In May 1660, the Lifeguards had their 'unofficial' kettledrums and trumpets. They also formed a band proper in 1763 after the end of the Seven Years' War. The First Foot Guards had their 'unofficial' fifes and drums in 1685 (some accounts state 1665), but their band proper was not founded until 1783 along with two other "bands of the Foot Guards". As the Grenadier Guards were not formed until after the Battle of Waterloo (from surviving troops of the First and Second Foot Guards), any claim to a band of the 'Grenadier' Guards prior to the Battle of Waterloo must be regarded as incorrect, and there are no accounts available of continuity between any Guards band which may have existed, and that of today's Grenadier Guards.
It was announced in a press release by CAMUS (now The Royal Corps of Army Music) on 29 July 2013, that all orchestral capability in British Army bands would be terminated in favour of a new 24-piece state string orchestra, formed from a nucleus of ex-Royal Artillery strings players, who had been temporarily held, in various Guards bands during the establishment period of the orchestra, and newly recruited ex-civilian string players. The new orchestra has subsequently been named "The Countess of Wessex String Orchestra".
The Royal Artillery Band and the Royal Artillery Orchestra (Britain's first, and oldest permanent orchestra) are significant in the history of British music, and in particular, of British military music, as being two of the oldest permanent musical organizations in the world, and can trace their origins as far back as 1557. The Band is closely linked to the English Artillerymen (Honourable Artillery Company), and the subsequent formation of the English Artillery regiments, which would eventually become the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and for the rise of the Royal Horse Artillery at the command of the Duke of Marlborough, and later also for the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery (formerly the Riding Troop).
Origins and brief history The first documented accounts of music in the "English Artillery" date back to 1557 at the battle of St. Quentin, where the Artillery had their "drumme and phife (or fyffe)". Bands known as 'Hoboys' (Fr. hautbois = oboes) of the French Horse Grenadiers appeared throughout the English cavalry and foot guards regiments during campaigns, but were disbanded immediately afterwards, as "surplus to requirements". The regiment did however, appoint permanent drummers at least from 1751, because the Royal Clothing Warrant of that year states that the drummers "were clothed in red. lined, faced, and lapelled on the breast with blue, and laced with the royal lace" (i.e. 'royal livery' as still worn today by the Household Cavalry Band). The royal lace is a 22-karat gold braid with two thin purple stripes. The English Artillery's (civilian) musicians expanded into an eight-piece ensemble consisting of 4 oboes and 4 bassoons, with each of the musicians required to also perform at Court on a stringed instrument, and increasingly at regimental dinners. The eight musicians were hired by the officers of the regiment, and disbanded after every event. It wasn't until 1762, that a total of eight musicians would be hired permanently by the Regiment, when the Royal Artillery Band was 'officially' formed at Minden, Germany. In 1717 twenty (civilian) musicians - eight wind instrumentalists and twelve drummers - from the 'Artillerie' list augmented the Royal Band of King George II aboard a barge on the River Thames, situated "close to the Royal Barge" for the first performance of the Water Music, by George Frideric Handel. The 'English' Artillery (the title 'Royal' was first used in the Regiment's appellation in 1720) raised additional musicians on ad hoc terms for occasions such as these, reverting immediately afterwards to the permanent eight. The composer Handel once again enlisted the musical services of the 'Artillerie' [Royal Artillery] on 27 April 1749 at the Royal Fireworks in Green Park. [The number of musicians augmenting the Royal Band on that occasion is unspecified, but particular mention of the "Artillerie kettledrums (of a particularly large pattern)" is nevertheless well documented. Kettledrums were confined to royal events in those days, or in battles, and only the Lifeguards otherwise used kettledrums, but of the standard size. In Germany, all kettledrummers were licensed to play them, and had to belong to the Guild of Kettledrummers]. A licence, or royal warrant, was also required to play the trumpet (which is why the cornet became the standard soprano brass instrument in the British military band. The King had also requested that "no fiđels (stringed instruments) be used" for the Royal Fireworks event, but the composer defiantly wrote on the score that all the oboe and bassoon parts should be doubled on strings (these players were again drafted from the Artillery) thereby confirming Handel's intention to use string players regardless of the King's express wish.
Prior to those given by Handel, all public performances of music in England were arranged directly by the Church, with the exceptions of processional music (royal, and military), and music for recruiting purposes. These performances of Handel's music are the first recorded in Britain, that were not connected to the Church, and among the first in Europe. Their popularity gave rise to occasional concerts before fee-paying audiences, and eventually to the existence of the first civilian professional orchestras, and the building of public concert halls. Thus the very first public bandstands date from this period.
England's Two Artillery Regiments At the formation of the now 'Royal Artillery' regiment in 1720, a special unit of artillerymen - which had been in existence since 1537 by royal charter, and which incorporated the Artillery Pikemen who date back to c. 1450 - the Honourable Artillery Company - was designated a ceremonial role, and in this capacity, they continue to exist, still maintaining their own band, the Band of the Honourable Artillery Company. It would not be until 1747 when the second regiment would be awarded the title 'Royal' (the City of London Regiment, the Royal Fusiliers). The Honourable Artillery Company (now part of the British Army Reserve) is the oldest regiment in continuous service in the British Army (the Royal Militia of the Island of Jersey, were formed 1337 but had a break in service to the crown from 1946 to 1987). The Honourable Artillery Company have always maintained through their ceremonial duties, close links with the Brigade of Guards. The Honourable Artillery's regimental band recruits a large number of ex-serving regular army musicians from the Royal Artillery, Corps of Royal Engineers and Guards as well as civilians with no previous military background. Apart from their source of musicians, there is no connection between the Honourable Artillery Company, and the Royal Artillery. In 1830 King William IV decreed that the HAC's ceremonial uniform should be modelled on that of the Grenadier Guards. The HAC are regarded as a City of London regiment, being the closest Territorial Army regiment to the "Square Mile"'. All City of London regiments (the oldest of these being the Royal Fusiliers) are entitled to wear red tunic and pelt headdress on parade. However, the original purpose of the red tunic was to denote soldiers of the King's bodyguard, which included the Artillerie Pikemen (HAC), the Yeoman of the Guard, the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London, the Lifeguards, and the First and Second Footguards. In Scotland, the Royal Company of Archers has existed since 1676, to provide a similar function in Scotland to that of the Yeomen of the Guard, and the Yeomen Warders of the Tower Of London.
Royal Bodyguard Corps and their origins The origin of the HAC pikemen in fact predates the formation, in 1485 under the reign of King Henry VII, of the Yeoman of the Guard of the State' (the Royal Bodyguard), based at St. James's Palace, and of the Yeomen Warders of the Tower of London (the Palace and Fortress Guard), whose almost identical livery is based closely on that of the pikemen of the period, from a time when helmets (rather than the Tudor hat), and breastplates were worn by all three bodies. The Yeomen Warders do not wear the sash belt on their ceremonial uniforms, and with the exception of state occasions, their normal daily dress is the navy blue 'undress' uniform. The Yeomen Warders broke away from the body of the Yeomen of the Guard when the king gave up his residence at the Tower of London, which remained a royal palace, but still required a corps of men to guard the Tower of London. One can readily identify the Yeoman of the Guard by their shoulder belts on an otherwise identical livery. The Royal Bodyguard of the Gentlemen At Arms, although founded in 1509 is the senior corps of bodyguards to the Sovereign, by virtue of the fact that its members are gentlemen. Before the Honourable Artillery Company was incorporated into the Territorial Army (now the Army Reserve), the pikemen were disbanded, but later restored for the purpose of battle re-enactments, and entertainment, such as at military tattoos. Another royal bodyguard corps, is the Royal Company of Archers, formed in the sixteenth century in Scotland, who, in Scotland, where they share the same sovereign as England, Wales and Northern Ireland, take precedence guarding the Monarch.
Kettledrums of the Royal Regiment of Artillery