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A C Green - The Man Who Created ‘Sunset’Part 1 – The Musician and Bandmaster.By Marcher
A glance through the historical articles written firstly by Nebuchadnezzar and then by Marcher will show that a great many interesting figures from the Royal Marines Band Service have, either directly or through articles about related topics, made worthwhile subjects. Kappey, Kreyer and Froehnert were the ‘Teutonic Triumvirate’. There were the three O’Donnell brothers and of course, Ricketts. Bandmasters were further represented by Barnacle, Faithfull and Allen - each for very different reasons. There were also George Miller and Tommy Francis, two World Wars apart. In addition ‘Personality Parades’ and ‘The Savage Report’ have introduced other interesting personalities of the Band Service. Many of those Directors of Music and Bandmasters are from the period when bands were many and Musicians were legion. Competition was fierce, training was difficult and comfortable practice rooms were rarely seen. Whilst many men are missing from this list one, in particular, is conspicuous by his absence – Arthur Charlett Green, the man principally remembered for his arrangement of the bugle call ‘Sunset’ for Band and Bugles. A C Green not only had a long and significant career but he also had a deep interest and a pride in all aspects of the Band Service. On the 15th of November 1904 Daniel Green and his son journeyed from their home in Shoreditch to the Admiralty Recruiting Department’s London Office for the sixteen year old AC Green to sign his Attestation Papers. He gave his ‘Trade or Calling’ as Pianist and had two references. One was from Mr Barthelmek, a pianoforte teacher, stating that Arthur had ‘been a pupil of mine for about five years and had a good all-round knowledge of music and is a fair sight-reader. Has also a slight knowledge of the violin’. The second was from the Reuters Telegraph Company at 24 Old Jury, London, stating that, from March 1903 until September 1904, Arthur had been a sober, honest and respectable Telegraph Messenger in their employ. This was signed by the ‘Head Timekeeper’. Daniel and his son also produced a Consent Paper, signed by Daniel in front of a neighbour acting as a witness, stating that he was giving consent for his son Arthur – who was born on the 9th October 1888 and had not been in either a reformatory or a prison, did not suffer from fits and was Church of England – to enter His Majesty’s Navy for a period of twelve years calculated from his eighteenth birthday. At that time Arthur was of sallow complexion with hazel eyes and dark brown hair. He was slightly built and just over 5’ 6” in height. Next day the attestation paper, complete with a covering letter from the Recruiting Office arrived at the Royal Naval School of Music suggesting that A C Green was a suitable candidate for RM Bands in service with the Fleet. Major Herbert Slessor RMA, Commandant of the School, agreed and the young man made his way to Eastney. A year later, Green was marked as First Class and sent to join HMS Renown where he found Major H Neville White RMLI as the Officer Commanding the Royal Marine Detachment. The band of over forty musicians that he joined had been especially selected for the Royal Tour of Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales to India and Burma. The band was under the Direction of the School’s Musical Director, Herbert Stretton, who was made a Temporary Lieutenant for the duration of the tour. The Leader of the Orchestra was Maltese Bandmaster Paul Grosso and the band contained many future notables. Although a euphonium and bombardon player, A C Green was selected to play piano and timpani. The Renown left Portsmouth as a Royal Yacht on the 8th October 1905. Within a month Green was in trouble, leaving clothing in his Mess when he went to Divisions - for which the Major gave him ‘5 days 10a’. According to King's Regulations of the period, punishment 10a was ‘Grog to be stopped; meals to be eaten under Sentry’s charge; after taking a half-hour to stand for the remainder of the dinner time on the upper deck in the place appointed; extra work in watch below; to be deprived of smoking and to be under the Sentry’s charge during smoking hours. If in harbour, or an idler at sea, he was to stand on the upper deck in the place appointed from 8pm until 10pm. Skylarking whilst on duty earned him another two days 10a and this was followed in a short space of time by two similar five day punishments for being absent from his place of duty. Renown returned on the 8th May 1906 and Major Neville-White’s official report of the tour included the following: "They [the band] have reached a high peak of excellence and, as a string band, certainly need not fear comparison with some of our finest military bands. It has been an education to listen to them, and the only regret expressed on all sides is that so fine a band should now be scattered to the four winds". On completion of the tour the Renown went to the Reserve Fleet in Portsmouth and Musician Green returned to the Royal Naval School of Music with the rest of what had been the Royal Yacht Band. His next draft was to HMS Queen, a twin-screw battleship and the Flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet. At this time any remaining ‘foreign’ musicians were quickly being replaced by men from the RNSM. Queen’s band was the first Mediterranean Fleet Flagship to have an all British band. After a few months on board the Queen, Musician Green was again in trouble when he lost a library book and had to pay its value, estimated at 3 pence. The OCRM Detachment, Lt Col Trotman RMLI had further cause to punish him when, during October and November 1907, he twice failed to carry out his duty as Cook of the Mess, crimes that earned him a total of eleven days 10a and, no doubt, a few choice words from his mess-mates. The replacement of Major Trotman by Major Beith as Officer Commanding Royal Marines on board did not mean that life got easier for Musician Green. Three days 10b for being late and without his music book for Guard and Band Parade was followed by a further three days 10b for turning up in a dirty condition when going into harbour and then five days 10a for using obscene language when on duty. Punishment 10b was lighter than 10a since it only consisted of the loss of grog and standing on the upper deck in the place appointed for the period of the dinner break remaining after the first half-hour. HMS Queen steamed to Portsmouth and was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet. Seven members of the ship’s band disembarked on the 7th December 1908 and returned to HQ RNSM at Eastney. Following a year at the School, during which time he was judged Good and Very Good on bombardon and bass respectively, as well as being assessed as having Very Good character and Very Good ability, he embarked on the Flagship of the Rear Admiral, Home Fleet, Portsmouth the 15,000 ton twin-screw battleship HMS Jupiter on the 15th December 1909. Musician Green returned from the Jupiter on the 24th January 1910 and, two days later, embarked upon the armoured cruiser HMS Bacchante, the Flagship of the 6th Cruiser Squadron, Mediterranean Fleet. Two months into this draft the recently promoted BdCpl Green committed what was to be his final offence, or at least the last to be discovered! At Commander’s table he had fourteen days' leave stopped as a result of being caught shaving in the Officer’s Bathroom! Bacchante’s band under Bandmaster 1st Class H Willmer returned to the Royal Naval School of Music on the 15th March 1912 and during the following month he qualified, with a Very Good assessment, for Fire Control Duties. This is an indication of the involvement that the Royal Naval School of Music now had with gunnery control on board ships. This qualification was an essential prerequisite to attaining the rank of Band Corporal. Training took place at either the Royal Navy School of Gunnery on Whale Island or the Royal Marine Artillery facilities at Eastney, at Fort Cumberland and along the foreshore between these two locations. On completion of this period of training BdCpl Green was sent to HMS Gloucester, a 2nd Class protected Cruiser and part of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Portsmouth based units of the Home Fleet. This may have been a temporary draft since, seven days later, he was back at Eastney and the day after that he went on board the Admiralty Yacht, Enchantress. This twin-screw yacht was based at Portsmouth and was used for ‘particular service’ – in this case the ‘particular service’ was to take the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, on a cruise. Service upon Enchantress appears to have lasted about six weeks and this was followed by a return to the Royal Naval School of Music, the award of the 2nd Good Conduct Badge and a period of study that culminated in the successful completion of the Bandmasters' Course and the award of the 1913 Silver Medal from the Worshipful Company of Musicians. This annual award was first made to a student at the Royal Naval School of School in 1910.
On the 20th January 1914 A C Green was given his first ship’s band, the 20,000 ton Portsmouth based battleship HMS Hercules of the 1st Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet. The Hercules took part in the Battle of Jutland on the 31st May 1916 but despite being under fire and subject to torpedo attack for over an hour and a half she sustained no band casualties. Whilst on the Hercules A C Green composed and arranged incidental music for the 1915 ship’s pantomime, ‘Aladdin’. A fortnight after Jutland Bandmaster Green was drafted to HMS Benbow, a newer 25,000 ton battleship, also part of the 1st Battle Squadron. In 1917 he produced a Choral and Symphony Concert with the Benbow Choral Society and the united orchestras of Revenge and Benbow. One of the members of the Choral Society was Lt Leech-Porter RMA who later became the man responsible for recommending the amalgamation of the Divisional Bands with the Royal Naval School of Music. Apparently the highlight of the evening was the Choral Society singing ‘The Burial of Dundee’. Other highlights included the suite ‘Woodland Pictures’ conducted by Bandmaster Hodge of the Revenge and Land of the Mountain and the Flood conducted by Green. The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Beatty, and other senior officers of the Fleet attended. News of the concert made its way back to Eastney and the Musical Director of the RNSM, Charles Franklin, wrote to congratulate A C Green. His letter included, “Such performances do credit to this Institution and do a great deal of good. Given the same numbers our bands can compare favourably with Divisional Marine Bands, a fact that wants to be made known and this is the way to do it. I am glad to say that I know that our bands are rapidly becoming more appreciated and keener interest (which is everything) taken in them by the Officers of the ships. Give another concert and keep giving them.” Six more concerts were given. After almost four years at sea he returned to Eastney for a two month period before being drafted to the cruiser HMS Berwick where he remained until August 1918. After a brief return to Eastney he joined the Chatham based battleship HMS Royal Oak in September. The following month he was awarded his third Good Conduct badge and, whilst on board the Royal Oak, re-enlisted for a further nine years. On the 5th November severe gales in the Firth of Forth caused the converted aircraft carrier Campania to drag her anchor. She drifted into the Royal Oak and then into the battle-cruiser Glorious. The Campania sustained serious damage during these collisions, began to flood and eventually sank without any loss of life. A C Green wrote, in a letter to his mother, “It might easily have turned out to be a dreadful disaster to our Fleet, but before any more ships could be involved, they had got up steam and cleared out of our way. As it was, there was the Campania across our bows and both of us locked together broke our moorings and drifted down on to the bows of the Glorious, and then the three of us, locked together, began to drift down…” A few days later the armistice was signed and Green was on board the Royal Oak when she, with the rest of the Grand Fleet of thirteen squadrons of ships sailed to meet the German Fleet and to bring them into Scapa Flow for the surrender. Promotion to Bandmaster 1st Class was gained in early 1920, followed by a return to Eastney in July where he remained until the November when he joined HMS Barham for a six-week period. This was followed by his first draft to a Shore Establishment, apart from normal returns to the Royal Naval School of Music for training and courses, since he joined the Renown fifteen years earlier! HMS Pembroke was the name given to the Royal Naval Barracks at Chatham and although classed as a Shore establishment it was actually the latest in a series of ships that were converted from their original to barrack use. This particular ship had begun life in 1863 as the iron screw ship of 9,820 tons, HMS Achilles. She was subsequently renamed Hibernia (1902), Egmont (1904) and Egremont (1916) before conversion to HMS Pembroke in 1919. She was the Flagship of Admiral Sir F C Doveton-Sturdee, Commander-in-Chief, Nore whose command included Chatham and Sheerness Dockyards, Chatham RN Barracks and four barrack ships in the Humber area and the Port of London. Bandmaster 1 Green remained at Chatham with the Band of C-in-C Nore until November 1922 when he returned to the Royal Naval School of Music. Whether, after his many years’ service at sea in peace and war, he found this two-year period satisfying or not is, unfortunately, not known. Whilst at Chatham A C Green was, for a time, a BdCSgt. This was a rank only used for a very short while in the RNSM and soon reverted to Bandmaster 1. On return to Eastney Bandmaster Green continued his studies and, in January 1923, he became one of the first to qualify as Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (Military Bandmastership). This was followed by promotion to Bandmaster (WO) a few months later. The story of the service of A C Green as a Warrant Officer and Commissioned Officer will be told in the next edition of ‘Blue Band’
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