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Life as a Musician of the Royal Naval School of MusicThe Story of Bandmaster John Allen Part 1by Marcher John Allen was born on the 24 October 1889 in West Bromwich, Staffordshire. Shortly after the Royal Naval School of Music was formed at Eastney he enlisted as a Bandboy aged 15 and just four foot eight inches tall. In 1905 he was passed for the Infantry and in 1907, as the School expanded to the point where it could not house or support its own size and strength, he was transferred to the Royal Marine Artillery - but still at Eastney. In the same year he qualified as a Musician (he was a trombonist) and in 1908 he embarked for the first time, joining his ship in Plymouth on the 23 June 1908. This was HMS Russell, a Duncan class battleship of the Atlantic Fleet, and she left her dock on the 24th, coaled on 26th & 27th and then sailed for Ireland. John Allen kept a diary of this, his first, commission that provides an interesting and valuable insight into life at sea with the Home Fleet in the first decade of the century when Great Britain's sea power was probably at its most influential. After taking on more coal HMS Russell sailed for Quebec arriving on 14th July. As she was leaving Quebec, two weeks later, she was caught in a dense fog that lasted for seven days and, during this time, she almost had a collision with HMS Albemarle and was nearly run down by HMS Venus. Arriving back in Ireland on the 7th August the ship spent the next month calling at various ports around Ireland before heading for Blackpool where, due to rough seas, HMS Russell had to turn away and, instead, called at Douglas Isle of Man before returning to Plymouth where he arrived on the 2nd September after a very rough passage. Next day, after taking on more coal, HMS Russell again returned to Ireland before sailing for Gibraltar on the 26th September 1908, arriving on the 5th October. Several days were spent on exercises at sea, including laying buoys for the gun-layers tests. October and November were spent exercising in the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. HMS Russell arrived back in Plymouth on 15th December. After Christmas leave she again moved to Ireland enjoying a relatively smooth passage although the two torpedo boats that accompanied her "didn't half get a shaking up!." John Allen took the opportunity to go ashore and explore the Irish countryside. Much of the time HMS Russell was at sea and engaged upon gunnery and manoeuvring exercises as well as fending off mock attacks from torpedo boats. On the 2nd March HMS Russell, in company with HMS Cornwallis, sailed for Dover 'running neck and neck' at full speed all the way. After coaling at Dover she was involved in firing exercises off Folkestone. These exercises continued for a few days and then, on the 7th April, she was ordered to Dungeness to find a torpedo boat that had sunk. Although the weather was fine no sign of her was to be found. In the middle of April they sailed for Cromarty and then Scapa Flow for Fleet manoeuvres. The end of the month found them back off Dover for heavy gun practice firing before gun layer's tests were carried out. It was very rough weather for a test but, despite this, the first chap who fired carried away both targets but, on account of the weather, it took twelve hours to reset them! The RMA gunners scored particularly well. The Fleet then anchored off Margate for a day before moving to Dover where the Band gave a concert at the Town Hall. This went down very well with the audience and especially the band since they had not been ashore for five days, their shore leave having been stopped for seven days because they had been two minutes late for playing when the call "Hands fall in for coaling" was sounded. When coal was taken on board and, whilst the crew coaled ship, the band entertained them usually playing four pieces per hour throughout the coaling period which could be as long as eighteen hours. Following a short return to Plymouth all Fleets assembled off Portsmouth for a Combined Fleet Review by the Prime Minister on the 12th June and then further visits and exercises around the west coast of Great Britain before returning to the English Channel. On the 25th July 1909 they witnessed Bleriot become the first man to fly the Channel, later going ashore to have a look at the aircraft. Two days later they watched as the English pilot, Latham, attempted to repeat the feat only to fall into the water four miles short of the English coast. One of HMS Russell's piquet boats was the first to reach him - although it was furthest away when the aircraft hit the water. Next morning the Fleet left for Cowes and the following day HMS Hindustan ran down "Black Bess', the piquet boat from HMS Russell that had rescued Latham. HMS Russell was then sent to Malta for a refit before becoming part of the Mediterranean Fleet whilst John Allen, and presumably the rest of the band, returned to England where he picked up his second draft - to HMS Superb, a new Bellerophen Class battleship which was part of the Home Fleet 1st Division and the first ship to have anti-torpedo bulkheads. In March 1911 the band was discharged back to the Royal Naval School of Music and, two months later, the recently promoted Corporal Allen found himself on HMS Superb's sister-ship HMS Temeraire - also part of the 1st Division of the Home Fleet. In September 1913 Temeraire's band was discharged to the Royal Naval School of Music and Corporal Allen found his next draft, which commenced a month later, was to another new battleship, HMS King George V - the Flagship of the Home Fleet. Three months before the outbreak of the First World War Corporal Allen was, once again, discharged to Eastney. This was the pattern of life for a Royal Marine Musician in the Royal Naval School of Music, long periods of service at sea followed by a short leave period and then back to Eastney for a period of tuition and practice until the next draft to a ship came along. In October he was drafted to the Band of the Royal Naval Brigade that had been newly formed by the Royal Naval School of Music. Corporal John Allen remained with the Royal Naval Brigade, later renamed the Royal Naval Division, until January 1916 when he once again returned to Eastney and was promoted to Bandmaster 2nd Class on the 17th April 1917. At that time there was no such rank as Band Sergeant or Band Colour Sergeant. Bandmaster 2nd Class was the recognised equivalent to Sergeant and therefore the natural progression from Corporal. Whilst Allen's character was always assessed as "Very Good' on his Service Record his ability when he joined was only given as "Fair'. However, over the ensuing years, his ability obviously developed as his grade gradually changed to "Good' then "Very Good' and then, in 1912, "Superior'. During this period at the Royal Naval School of Music John Allen married Miriam in Stafford and, at some point, they settled in Adair Road, Eastney. It was back to sea in August of 1917 on board HMS Cornwall, a Monmouth Class large cruiser, bound for China before returning to England and then, still with John Allen on board, she sailed for North America and the West Indies on convoy protection duties. During one of HMS Cornwall's periodic visits to England John Allen was drafted back to the Royal Naval School of Music, arriving there on the 18th January 1918. Three months later he rejoined his old ship HMS Temeraire for a nine-month commission in the Mediterranean that, after a spot of Christmas leave, was continued from mid-January until May 1919. Having served at Eastney from then until the end of the year, during which time he had re-engaged, John Allen joined HMS Ajax, a sister ship to HMS King George V, in Malta on January 4th 1920 and, flying the flag of Admiral De Roebeck, HMS Ajax returned to the Eastern Mediterranean and to the Black Sea where she was involved in operations against the Bolsheviks. In August 1920 John Allen left HMS Ajax in Constantinople and took passage on HMS Benbow to Malta and, after a short stay at HMS Egmont, took passage home on the SS Kildonan Castle to the Royal Naval School of Music where he began his Bandmasters' course. In October of that year his rank changed from Bandmaster to the new one of Band Sergeant and, in December, his "Ability' report for the period August to December was only "Satisfactory' - most unusual for John Allen. He passed his Bandmasters' examination in August 1921 and became a Bandmaster Class II, now a higher rank than Sergeant. Three months later he had another commission. This time it was HMS Valiant of the 1st Battle Squadron, Atlantic Fleet. When HMS Valiant returned to England in January 1923 John Allen, after spending over two years at sea, left her to rejoin the Royal Naval School of Music, this time as a Musical Instructor. He passed his instructors' examination in July 1923 with a pass-mark of 83.2% and spent the next fifteen months as an Instructor of euphonium and trombone until he was promoted to Bandmaster 1st Class. He left Plymouth in October 1924 on board HMS Capetown to join his final ship, but this time as its Bandmaster. The ship was HMS Calcutta, part of the 8th Light Cruiser Squadron serving on the North America and West Indies Station and under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir James Ferguson. The 8th Cruiser Squadron comprised HM Ships Calcutta, Constance, Curlew and Capetown. During the period December 1924 to February 1925 HMS Calcutta left their base in Bermuda and visited Nassau, New Orleans, Belize, Jamaica, Trinidad, Demerara, Trinidad, Grenada, Barbados and Antigua before returning to Bermuda. In June 1925 the Squadron, now comprising HM Ships Calcutta, Constance and Curlew with HMS Calcutta as the Flagship, once again left Bermuda for another commission. This time HMS Calcutta visited Canada and the United States calling at Halifax, White Bear River, Port Aux Basques, Mingan Islands, Bonne Bay, Hawke Bay, Charlottetown, St John's, Hare Bay, Sydney, Murray Bay, Quebec, Montreal, Quebec again and then Boston Massachusetts on the way back to Bermuda. Montreal was reached on the 31st August and HMS Calcutta was due to stay until the 14th September. Whilst in Montreal Bandmaster Allen received an invitation to broadcast on CNRM (Canadian National Railways Montreal broadcasting station) on the 3rd September. Whilst billed as the Royal Marine Band of HMS Calcutta it was to perform as an orchestra.
Two or three days after the broadcast a messenger arrived on board HMS Calcutta with a package addressed to "Bandmaster Allen, HMS Calcutta, Montreal Harbour". The covering letter said: "In the course of some experimental
work the other night, we happened to make some recordings of two of the numbers
broadcasted by you from Station CNRM, and thinking that you would like copies
of them, we have pleasure in handing you herewith, with our compliments, a copy
of each selection. The notepaper was headed "The Compo Company Limited. Canada's Largest Record manufacturer". Inside the package was a recording of "Cavalleria Rusticana" and of "Bacchus". We are very fortunate because these recordings have survived the 75 years since they were made and now reside in the recorded music archive of the Royal Marines Museum. They have been copied onto tape and can be heard in the Museum. What makes these recordings especially interesting is that H Berliner and the Compo Company, whose trademark was "APEX", were known to be experimenting in taking electrical recordings directly from radio broadcasts - as opposed to placing a microphone in front of the radio loudspeaker. If these recordings are electrically produced, and it is thought that they are, they could be amongst the first recordings, if not the first recordings, made by this method in the world. That auspicious voyage was Bandmaster John Allen's last as a ship's Bandmaster. Either illness or injury must have befallen him since he left HMS Calcutta on the 21st November and went to Bermuda Hospital. Five days later he signed off HMS Calcutta and, by taking passage on two liners, made his way back to Eastney arriving there on the 24th December and Haslar next day. He returned to duty at the Royal Naval School of Music on the 5th January 1926. In October 1928, aged 39 and serving as Quartermaster Sergeant of "A' Company, he was discharged from the Royal Marines having completed his second period of engagement. He was recommended for, and received, the Meritorious Service Medal.
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