THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROYAL MARINES BAND SERVICE

by Marcher

2003 will see the Centenary of the RMBS and yet there has been much discussion within our readership recently over the descent and lineage of the current RM Band Service. Who exactly were the forebears of the present day RMBS and when exactly did they amalgamate?
The answers to these questions and many others are contained in this informative article by Marcher which we commend to all members of the current Band Service.

INTRODUCTION

As the end of the nineteenth century approached each of the three Royal Marine Light Infantry Divisions which were based at Portsmouth (Forton Barracks), Plymouth and Chatham, as well as the single Royal Marine Artillery Division based at Eastney, had a Divisional Band that was skilled, motivated and well led. By contrast the Royal Navy Bands were mainly led by foreign Bandmasters who were hard working but unsympathetic to Royal Navy customs, traditions and discipline; the bands suffered from a very basic training system and were limited by the use of a commission system similar to that of ships' crews. In 1874 the Royal Marines Divisional Bandmasters (there were no Directors of Music at that time,) were ordered to inspect the bands of the Training Ships twice a year and to examine Ships' Bandmasters, awarding Certificates of Competence when appropriate.

THE ROYAL NAVAL SCHOOL OF MUSIC

The story of the development of the present-day Royal Marines Band Service is both complex and convoluted since it has absorbed, and is totally responsible for, the many musical requirements of the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines including the Buglers and the Royal Navy Volunteer Bands - once know as 'Blue Jacket Bands'.

In 1903 the Admiralty presented a Memorial to the King for approval. As a result the Royal Naval School of Music was opened at Eastney in 1903. All Royal Navy musicians returning from a commission were to pass through the school for further training and would be asked to transfer from the Royal Navy to the Royal Marines. From this date all band ratings were enrolled as Royal Marines. Both the RMA and the RMLI were involved through the Commandant (RMA) and Adjutant (RMLI). However, there was to be no mixing of musicians from the Divisional Bands with those from what became known as the Royal Marine Bands. Confusion regarding the titles used since 1903 has subsequently always existed. A Royal Marine Band, sometimes colloquially referred to as a 'Navy Band', was the product of the Royal Naval School of Music, and its members were specifically trained in musical skills and to work in the Transmitting Stations (TS) of the ships of the Royal Navy. These Musicians were liable to be drafted to a ship or shore establishment in any of the Fleets located throughout the world. By contrast the Divisional Bands of the Royal Marines were based on the Royal Marine Divisions whose Musicians had neither military roles nor the inconvenience of being drafted. Transfer from a Royal Marine Band to a Divisional Band was only possible after the individual had been discharged, applied to join the Divisional Band and successfully passed exhaustive auditions.

THROUGH WORLD WAR 1

By 1912 there were more than four hundred bandboys under instruction at the Royal Naval School of Music and, by the following year, the School could muster fourteen hundred musicians of all ranks, many of them serving with the fifty-three Royal Marine Bands. During the Great War of 1914-1918 Royal Marine Bands not only served in ships of the Royal Navy but also with the Royal Naval Brigades at Gallipoli and elsewhere. Following this war the 'RMB' shoulder title and, later, the cap badge with the lyre was introduced for the men of the Royal Marine Bands. The Divisional Bands all did a tour of duty with the 63rd Royal Naval Division on the Western Front. A set of silver drums became the memorial to those who lost their lives during this war, each drum being inscribed to the men of 'the RM Band Service'.

THE ROYAL MARINES AND THE INTER-WAR YEARS

During 1923 the amalgamation of the Royal Marine Divisions of Royal Marine Light Infantry and Royal Marine Artillery took place. The combined organisation was to be simply called the "Royal Marines'. One of the consequences was the loss of the Royal Marines Light Infantry Division at Forton Barracks. The Barracks were turned over to the Royal Navy and many of the musicians from this Division moved to Deal to amalgamate with the Depot Band of the Royal Marines. Whilst this amalgamation meant a standardisation of uniform between the two Royal Marine organisations it had no effect upon the Royal Marine Bands of the Royal Naval School of Music.

In 1924 the Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth expressed the view that the title 'Royal Naval School of Music' was inconsistent with Royal Marines control. However the Second Sea Lord felt it undesirable to make any change to the name, and so it remained.

WORLD WAR II

In 1930 the Depot Deal Band was disbanded and the Royal Naval School of Music moved from Eastney to Deal. All training of musicians for ships bands took place there until 1940. Deal's close proximity to the coast of occupied France forced the Admiralty to take the decision to relocate the men and boys under training. They moved firstly to Plymouth and Lympstone but space was restricted to the point that music practice was almost impossible. Good facilities were enjoyed at Malvern until they were ejected from there when the Royal Navy required the camp for other purposes. The Boys Wing was moved to Howstrake Camp on the Isle of Man whilst the Seniors Wing was put into two hotels at Scarborough. Three years later the Royal Marine Bands were two thousand strong including those who had enlisted for the duration of the war ('Hostilities Only') and Pensioners who had been brought back from retirement. These Pensioners were used either as Instructors or they served in Royal Marine Bands at Royal Navy Shore establishments - of which there were about twenty-five. About fifty Royal Marine Bands were at sea at this time. Like their predecessors in the First World War these Musicians were trained to work in ships' Transmitting Stations (TS). The TS contained equipment for calculating the range and deflection of enemy ships and controlling the ships guns. Located deep below the waterline and surrounded by fuel and ammunition storage this perilous location was the main reason for the high percentage of losses that the Royal Marine Bands sustained during the two world wars. On many occasions the loss of a ship meant the loss of an entire Band since, even if they survived explosion and fire, there was little chance of escaping from their tomb-like action station.

In 1942 a retired Commandant of the Royal Naval School of Music made the point that "For many years the Royal Marines Band had been 'nobody's child'; not owned by its real parents, the (Royal) Navy and an encumbrance to its foster parents, the Royal Marines. It is hoped that after the war this state of affairs will be put right". This quotation not only reinforces the oft forgotten fact that, despite the title 'Royal Marine Band', these bands continued to be the Royal Navy's music-makers but also that the Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers and Men of these bands, and of the Royal Naval School of Music, were in fact Royal Marines.

During the war years the Divisional Bands of the Royal Marines also did sterling work, but rarely at sea. They were responsible for raising both morale and war funds at home and abroad and for visiting Allied troops in frontlines all over the world.

A set of silver fanfare trumpets carrying RNSM banners was dedicated as a memorial to those who died during the Second World War. They were inscribed to the men of 'the Royal Marine Band Service'.

AMALGAMATION AND CHANGE

Following the end of the Second World War the Boys and the Seniors Wings were reunited at Burford in Oxfordshire. Four years later, in 1950, the Royal Marine Group Bands, their titles having changed from Divisional to Group in 1947, and the Royal Marine Bands of the Royal Naval School of Music were amalgamated. Cuts took place at the same time, one of the largest being the disbandment of the Chatham Group Band. The total strength of the new organisation, which was officially given the title of the Royal Marines Band Service, was one thousand one hundred and fifty all ranks, the reductions being due to both the general post-war run-down as well as the amalgamation. The thirty-six bands in commission included the two remaining Group Bands (Portsmouth and Plymouth), the newly formed Staff Band of the Royal Marines School of Music and twenty-one Royal Marines Bands at sea. As part of the amalgamation, the Royal Marine Bands lost their lyre collar badges, their own cap badge and the thin red trouser stripe. The Group Bands not only lost the ability to recruit and train their own musicians but the musicians also, if and when they 'signed-on', lost the privilege of being 'immobile' now becoming subject to draft. The Royal Naval School of Music moved back to Deal as part of this package of changes.

So what bands formed the Royal Naval School of Music just before the amalgamation took place? There were nine shore-based bands in the United Kingdom all of which belonged to high-ranking Naval Officers or Naval Commands. They were Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) Portsmouth (also known as the Band of HMS Excellent); C-in-C Plymouth; C-in-C Home Fleet (HMS Pembroke); Flag Officer Air (Home) (HMS Daedalus); Flag Officer Scotland (HMS Condor); Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth; HMS Ganges; HMS Raleigh and HMS St Vincent. There were a further three bands on foreign stations, C-in-C Mediterranean; C-in-C Far East (which was also called the British Pacific Fleet) and the Band of 3 Commando Brigade. The twenty-one ships that carried a Royal Marines Band are believed to be the fleet aircraft carriers Indomitable, Illustrious and Indefatigable; the light aircraft carriers Glory, Triumph and Vengeance; and the cruisers Belfast, Bermuda, Cleopatra, Euryalus, Gambia, Glasgow, Jamaica, Kenya, Liverpool, Mauritius, Phoebe, Sheffield, Superb and Swiftsure. In addition HMS Bellona was on loan to the Royal New Zealand Navy.

CURRENT BANDS AND THEIR LINEAGE

The Royal Navy was, during the second half of the twentieth century, subject to a continuous reduction in the numbers of ships and the numbers of shore establishments. The last ship to carry its own Royal Marines Band, apart from HMY Britannia was the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal which decommissioned in 1978. So what is the lineage of the Royal Marines Bands that exist in the opening few years of the twenty-first century?

HM Royal Marines Band Portsmouth is derived from the Band of the Portsmouth Division, Royal Marines. Changing from a Divisional to a Group Band in 1950 it later came under the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command when his band at HMS Excellent was disbanded in 1972. This eventually placed the Band in HMS Nelson, the very large Royal Navy establishment in Portsmouth, as a band serving a Royal Navy establishment and Commander-in-Chief. Whilst the band has had its current title from 1994 it remains firmly within the Royal Navy.

Unlike the Portsmouth Band the Plymouth Band has no association with the old Divisional Bands but is a product of the Royal Naval School of Music. In 1969 the Band of C-in-C Plymouth was renamed the Band of Flag Officer Plymouth. In 1972 it was augmented by the Band of HMS Raleigh but retained its name until 1994 when it was given its current title.

The Scotland Band is another Band that has a Royal Navy heritage. It was originally the Band of Flag Officer Scotland (HMS Condor) until 1969 when it became the Band of Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland. Like the others it was given its current title in 1994 and remains firmly part of the Royal Navy.
The Band of HM Royal Marines Commando Training Centre RM can claim direct lineage back to the Plymouth Divisional Band and is also the only current Royal Marines Band that is neither attached to, nor part of, the Royal Navy.

In 1956 the Band of HMS Triumph, the ship that for several years had been engaged on Royal Navy Officer Cadet training, marched into the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth to become the College Band gaining a new title, the Band of HM Royal Marines Britannia Royal Naval College.

ROYAL MARINE BUGLERS

A long and proud history commencing with the birth of the Royal Marines in 1664 is the inheritance of the modern Bugler. A rank or two of Royal Marines Buglers at the front of a band has epitomised Royal Marines music making since the early part of the twentieth century. Originally required for signalling by beat of drum when they were known as Drummers, later by bugle call, Buglers were part of the Corps, not the Band Service, until 1979 although their training was transferred from the Divisions to the Royal Naval School of Music in 1948. Prior to 1948 the Bugle Majors and Drum Majors of the Divisions had trained Buglers for service on board ships, each of which had two or four buglers depending upon size, as well as those required in the Royal Marine Barracks. Up until 1947 the playing of the fife had also been a requirement of the Buglers. In the nineteenth century Drummers were responsible for administering the punishments of flogging, drumming-out and discharge with ignominy in the Royal Marines and, very often when at sea, the Royal Navy as well.

ROYAL NAVY VOLUNTEER BANDS

Volunteer or 'Blue Jacket' Bands were originally formed at the three great naval barracks at Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth. They were brass bands using instruments supplied by the Welfare Fund. Many Blue Jacket Band ratings continued their hobby when drafted to sea. Further Volunteer Bands were formed both on board ship and at various shore bases and took a variety of forms, brass, military, fife and drum, drum and bugle, pipes and other mixtures to suit the instrumentalists that happened to be pitched together. Very often, on board ship, members of the Royal Marines Band, the Royal Marine Buglers, or both, would help to train these enthusiastic volunteers. By the 1930s the standard of these bands had improved to the point where they were invited to play at prestigious events such as the FA Cup Final and Rugby Internationals. With the reduction in the numbers of sea-going bands during the second half of the twentieth century volunteers were encouraged to fill the gap and Royal Marine Volunteer Band Instructors were provided - shades of 1874 once again.

The official birth of the Royal Marines Band Service is recognised as 1903 when, through the concept of the Royal Naval School of Music, all musicians from the Royal Navy became Royal Marines and to them passed total responsibility for the music of the Senior Service. There still exists amongst the men who passed through the Royal Naval School of Music a fierce loyalty to the Royal Navy and a pride in being, first and foremost, the musicians of the Royal Navy.

Whichever strand of our history we care to reflect upon, whether it be the Royal Marine Bands or Divisional Bands, we should remember with pride all our forebears and be thankful that during the twentieth century all came together to lay the foundation of what became regarded by many as the finest Band Service in the world.