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And, in the beginning, there was... The Royal Naval School of Musicby Marcher The story of the birth of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, is well known. In the Crimea in 1854 a Grand Review to celebrate the birthday of Queen Victoria was held. The General Staff of each of the allied forces assembled at Scutari attended this review. To the humiliation of all, the sound that the massed bands of the British Army produced when they played the National Anthem was dreadful. The senior member of the Royal family present was the Duke of Cambridge, a lover of music with a discerning ear – an attribute not essential for recognising the scale of the musical disaster that was occurring. Different British bands had different arrangements of the National Anthem - and bands were also playing in different keys. Another factor was the belief, extant over the past fifty or so years, that German or other continental Bandmasters were superior and therefore essential to British Army regimental bands. As a result, with the outbreak of the Crimean War, a great many of these foreign, civilian, bandmasters developed a sudden desire to pursue civilian careers rather than lead their bands to the volatile, pestilential and downright dangerous environment that existed in the Crimea. As a result many bands arrived from all parts of the Empire leaderless and with music that they had carried and played in various parts of the world for many years. This attributed to the cacophony of sound that assailed the ears of the listeners when the bands struck up on that fateful day in 1854. As a result, the Duke of Cambridge was moved to create the circumstances necessary for the setting up of the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, an event commemorated in many ways - including giving his name to an excellent march, and to the public house across the road from Kneller Hall! To a certain extent the Royal Naval School of Music had similar beginnings although, thankfully, the senior Service was spared the embarrassment of a naval equivalent of Scutari. Ships' bands first started to appear, by private enterprise, at about the time of the Napoleonic Wars. During the middle of the nineteenth century the Admiralty began to show an interest in, and to encourage, such bands. Foreigners were encouraged and, as a result, Maltese and Italian musicians in particular joined the bands. The official training of band boys on wooden walled Training Ships began in 1863 and over the following eleven years the Admiralty took a grip on, and responsibility for, Naval bands. They introduced grants for instruments and a rank system for the bandsmen. In 1874 the Bandmasters of the Royal Marine Divisional Bands were ordered to regularly inspect Training Ship Bands and to issue Certificates of Competence to Bandmasters. In 1884 the Duke of Edinburgh recognised that, through lack of opportunity for practice, levels of musicianship deteriorated when musicians were in Depot Ships awaiting a sea draft. He suggested that a rota ensuring that all bandsmen had equal sea-time should be introduced. This alienated the Commanders-in-Chief at the Home Ports who were cultivating their own bands, containing the finest musicians, on the style of the bands of the Royal Artillery, the Guards and the Royal Marine Divisions. His third suggestion was for a training school for bandmasters. Musicians were held in low esteem by the Officers of the Royal Navy, being regarded as ‘idlers’, and as a result, were used as Midshipman’s Servants and given all manner of other duties on board ship. The Officers, without choice, were responsible for part of the financial upkeep of the band and were further antagonised by the many foreign Bandmasters and bandsmen who were disinclined to take part in, or notice of, Royal Naval custom, tradition or discipline. Many were volatile characters - another trait that did little to endear them to the Naval Officers. So, at the end of the nineteenth century the Admiralty and the Royal Navy had endorsed the need for ships’ bands only to discover that they had an organisation with a very crude and basic method of training young musicians; the support of the Royal Marines through an auditing system for both bandsmen and bandmasters; a nucleus of bandmasters who, in the main were hard-working and indoctrinated into, and part of, the Royal Navy system; or, in the case of the foreign contingent, hard-working but volatile and unsympathetic towards the Royal Navy and who, most importantly, had alienated the Officers. Changes were needed and it was probably this final point that set the wheels in motion. On the 20th May 1903 the King approved the transfer of responsibility for the provision of music throughout the British Fleets to the Royal Marines and, in consequence, the Royal Naval School of Music was instituted at the Royal Marine Artillery Barracks at Eastney, Portsmouth. Immediate transfer of the Royal Naval Bandsmen to the ranks of the Royal Marines began. It must be made clear that this responsibility was given to the Corps and not to any of the Royal Marine Light Infantry Divisional Bands or to the Royal Marine Artillery Band. The new Royal Naval School of Music was an entirely independent organisation and as such it needed a Commandant and Staff, similar to the British Army’s School of Music at Kneller Hall. Indeed, Kneller Hall may well have been the model for the new School. The Admiralty determined that the Commandant, who would be a Major, Royal Marines, would be supported by a Musical Director (RNSM) of Warrant Officer rank; a Superintending Clerk who would also be Acting Adjutant; two Bandmaster Instructors (later modified to Chief Bandmasters) of 1st Class Bandmaster rank with a Sergeant, RM, Schoolmaster. The Commandant reported directly to the Deputy Adjutant- General, RM, regarding the administration of the School whilst all matters of discipline were to be referred locally to the Colonel Commandant of the Royal Marine Artillery. By today’s standards, when Directors of Music are either Majors or Captains, having a Warrant Officer as the Musical Director of the Royal Naval School of Music must seem very odd. To put it into context, the two Senior Divisional Bandmasters (there were no Directors of Music at that time) were 2nd Lieutenants, at that time a fairly recent innovation, whilst the other three were Warrant Officers. So who were the men who were the first to be appointed to the Staff of the Royal Naval School of Music and therefore bore the initial responsibility for laying the foundations of the future of music in the Royal Navy? The CommandantMajor Herbert Slessor of the Royal Marine Artillery was appointed Commandant on the 20th May 1903. The son of the Rev. J H Slessor, he was born in 1862 and was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in 1880. He was a keen rugby player and represented United Services, the Royal Navy and Hampshire. As a Lieutenant he served as Second-in-Command of the Royal Marine Artillery component of the Royal Naval Brigade formed from the RMA and RMLI Detachments of HMS Carysfort, Dolphin, Sphinx, Condor and Coquette for service during the Sudan War of 1885. During this war he fought at Hasheen, Tamaai and Suakin. Armed with Gardner guns (an early type of machine-gun) drawn by mules the RMA gave a very good account of themselves against the disciplined attacks of the Dervishes. (See Marcher article ‘Bugler’s Medals’ for a full account of the battle at Suakin.)
In 1882 the British Army had been sent to deal with uprisings in Egypt and, as a result, Cairo was occupied and a new Egyptian Army was formed under British command. A number of selected British Officers were appointed to serve with this new Army in the rank of Major and above. British command was deemed necessary in order to improve discipline and to eradicate corruption. Service with the Egyptian Army came to be highly sought after by British Officers. Captain Slessor was the third Royal Marine Officer to be appointed to the Egyptian Army where, with the rank of Bimbashi (Major), he served from 1896 until 1898. In 1897 he was Commandant at the railway terminus of Kerma on the Nile and was given command of the 1st Battalion, 4th Egyptian Brigade. This was the period when Major-General Kitchener led the British and Egyptian Armies against the Dervishes, regained control of the Nile and conquered the Dervish Empire at the Battle of Omdurman. Captain Slessor served throughout this campaign and was Mentioned-in-Despatches for his leadership and service at the Battle of Khartoum. He also fought at Omdurman, Kitchener’s great victory in the Sudan. Captain Slessor returned to Eastney, to take up the appointment, on the 3rd December 1898, as Royal Marine Artillery Staff Officer and, shortly afterwards, he was promoted Major. Four and a half years later Major Slessor was appointed as the Commandant RNSM and, within a matter of weeks, would have realised that he was in command of a School and a Band Service that had no designs for uniforms, badges or buttons; little in the way of musical instruments or equipment and was growing at an incredible rate as ship’s band after ship’s band turned over to the Royal Marines from the Royal Navy. The Colonel Commandant of the RMA provided immediate support by assisting with the design of the uniform and the Colonel Commandant, Chatham Division, detached his Divisional Bandmaster to assist with selection of musical instruments in London. By August 1903, events had moved at such a pace that the Admiralty was able to issue a Circular letter to all Commanders-in-Chief, Captains, Commanders, and Commanding Officers of HM Ships at home and abroad. This detailed the organisation, the uniform, the maintenance and replacement of instruments, recruiting and selection, transfer of band ratings into the School, military duties, sizes of various ships' bands, rates of pay including gratuities and also allowances. As well as the general running of the School, Major Slessor’s duties included responsibility for recruitment, discussions with ships' Captains regarding the transfer of RN bandsmen to the School as vessels returned to port and also for moving young Bandsmen from the old RN Training Ships to the School. In 1904 Major Slessor elicited the support of the Colonel Commandant RMA and together they made a strong case for relieving the growing pressure by increasing the staffing levels. The Deputy Adjutant General, RM, suggested that some recruit training should be devolved to the Divisions and this was put into practice. Additional staff was provided to Major Slessor for duty at both the central School and also the Divisions. This new scheme worked after a fashion and the pressure was partially relieved. In 1905 he oversaw the forming of the first RNSM band to accompany a Royal Tour. A year later, and three years after its inception, Major Slessor, responsible for the administration of all aspects of thirty-four bands in ships spread throughout the world, was promoted Brevet Lt Col. On the 20th May 1909, having successfully laid the foundations of the Royal Naval School of Music, Lt Col Slessor retired. It is interesting to note that his successor was not ‘Commandant’ but was ‘In Charge’ and that the title Commandant was never again used at the Royal Naval School of Music.
The Superintending Clerk/Acting AdjutantJoseph McFarlane Mitchell enlisted in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in November 1876 and appears to have spent his career, until 1903, with the Portsmouth Division at Forton Barracks. He was promoted to Warrant Officer Superintendent Clerk in August 1897 and then, on the 20th May 1903, he was appointed Quartermaster and Acting Adjutant of the School of Music with the honorary rank of Lieutenant. He then served as full-time Adjutant from 1907, when another Superintending Clerk was appointed, until his retirement in 1911. He was recalled for war service in 1914 and was based in London for service with the Administration Staff of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. Musical DirectorIn 1903 it was announced that the War Office had been asked to arrange for the transfer of Bandmaster E C Stretton, 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regiment, to the Royal Marines and instructions were sent for his return home from India to take up this appointment. Bandmaster Stretton, son of a former Sergeant Major in the Royal Artillery, enlisted in the Royal Artillery Band in 1886, aged 14, and entered Kneller Hall as a Student in 1897. In January 1900 he was appointed Bandmaster of the 1st Bn York and Lancaster Regiment which, in 1902, departed for five years' service in India. Upon receipt of the telegraphic instruction he returned to Portsmouth to take up his appointment on the 20th June 1903, the same date as his promotion to the rank of Warrant Officer. At this precise time his elder brother, Arthur John Stretton, was Director of Music at Kneller Hall, an appointment that he held from 1896 until 1921. The Musical Director of the Royal Naval School of Music was also the head of the Instructional Staff. As bands were continually returning to the School for further training at the end of each commission they were split up and leavened with new recruits prior to practising as a ship’s Royal Marine Band and then leaving on their next commission. In this environment it was difficult to maintain a constant, high quality, Royal Naval School of Music Band which was necessary for local entertainment, Church Parades, recruitment etc. Despite such difficulties standards did rise and, in 1905, the School assembled a band of over forty for HMS Renown which was preparing for the Royal Tour of the Prince and Princess of Wales to India and Burma. Stretton, who wrote a march called The Royal Tour to mark the event, was made a Temporary Lieutenant for the duration of the tour. En route through the Mediterranean the Centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar was celebrated, the Band playing Rule Britannia and The Death of Nelson prior to the Service. Six months later HMS Renown returned to Portsmouth and, in his report, the Officer Commanding Royal Marines, Major H S Neville White RMLI, wrote the following: “I feel I ought not to close without some reference to the band and the detachment. With regard to the former, they have won unstinted and fully deserved praise from their Royal Highnesses, and everyone else who has heard them. Under the able conductorship of Mr Stretton they have reached a high pitch of excellence, and as a string band, certainly, they need not fear comparison with some of the finest of our 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. In India they achieved a reputation which will not readily be forgotten”.
Stretton returned to his duties at the Royal Naval School of Music at Eastney until 1907 when his success on board the Renown appears to have borne fruit. The position of Bandmaster to the Royal Artillery became free and the Band Committee nominated a civilian. This attracted a great deal of criticism with the result that the King, as Colonel-in-Chief of the Regiment, wrote, “His Majesty decided that the post should be filled from Kneller Hall, and His Majesty considers that Mr Stretton, Director of Music to the Royal Naval School of Music, a military bandmaster trained at Kneller Hall, a suitable candidate” And so, almost by Royal Command, E C Stretton left to direct the Royal Artillery Band at Woolwich, an appointment that he held for twenty nine years. Bandmaster Instructor/Chief BandmasterThe first band to pay-off from a ship and march into the Royal Naval School of Music was that of HMS Impregnable, the march-in taking place on the 22nd July 1903, just two months after the Commandant and Adjutant had taken up their appointments and one month after the Director of Music joined the School. Impregnable’s Bandmaster, Harry Lidiard, transferred to the Royal Marines like the rest of his band, and was appointed as the first Chief Bandmaster of the Royal Naval School of Music. Impregnable’s Band was not, however, the first band to transfer to the Royal Marines. That honour belongs to the band of HMS Leviathan which was docked at Plymouth. Harry Lidiard, who confessed in 1910 that he was actually Henry Ernest Lidiard, joined the Royal Navy in 1877 as a Band Boy. He progressed through the ranks to Inspecting Bandmaster, Royal Navy, before transferring to the Royal Marines as RMB15. Upon the retirement of Lt Mitchell, Harry Lidiard was given the appointment of Quartermaster but not Adjutant. During the period 1917-1919 the School did not have a Superintendent appointed so Lidiard became Assistant Superintendent until his retirement in 1919. Major Harry Lidiard, probably because of his personality, character and the length of time that he had served with the Royal Naval School of Music, became known as ‘The Father of the Band Service’. These were the men who began the Royal Naval School of Music in 1903. Forty-seven years later, in 1949 and immediately prior to the amalgamation with the four Divisional Bands to form the Royal Marines Band Service, the Royal Naval School of Music had forty bands at sea, in Depots, Training Establishments and in Royal Marine and Royal Naval Air Service Establishments. It is important to remember just how much of the present day Royal Marines Band Service is directly inherited from the Royal Naval School of Music. The Massed Bands Beating Retreat display; marching routines; the predecessor of the Princes Badge; the Memorial Silver Trumpets of the Royal Naval School of Music; the War Memorial Silver Drums; Green’s setting of Sunset; the Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians (begun in 1910) and therefore the strong relationship between the two organisations; the Cassel prize; Band Conferences; the framework of instruction and training with civilian Professors and Service Instructors that is still relevant in, and applies to, the current Royal Marines School of Music. The idea of the Winter Concert season, so important to the Bandmasters' Course, was created for that very purpose by the RNSM. The philosophy of promotion through the ranks to Officer level also came from the Royal Naval School of Music. Most importantly they brought with them the fine record of a strong pro-active military role that was integrated with a high standard of ‘double-handed’ musicianship. The Divisional Bands, known as Group Bands at this stage, brought their distinctive headdress badges and the Silver Bugles paid for by the Officers of the Corps but, probably most significantly, the changes and adaptations that they had to make in order to become fully integrated resulted in them, and therefore the current Royal Marines Band Service, becoming as flexible as the bands of the Royal Naval School of Music. On national television recently Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, whilst watching the Beating Retreat in front of HMS Victory, commented upon the extensive military role and the musical prowess of the Royal Marines Band Service and said, “You get a lot for your money with a Royal Marines Band”. Later, as the Corps of Drums completed their display, he added, “I am unashamedly biased, but you can see why we are watching the best in the world”.
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