Warrant Officer 1 JR Whitwham MBE Royal Marines
Corps Drum Major

Warrant Officer 1st Class James Whitwham (Wiggy) joined the Royal Marines Band Service in September 1980 at the age of 16. On completion of 18 months training as a Royal Marines Bugler he joined the Commando Forces Band at Plymouth.

After serving three years at Plymouth he was drafted to The Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone where he married his wife Jane. Whilst serving in the Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland Band "Wiggy" gained promotion to Corporal Bugler and passed the Drum Major's course with a distinguished pass. He was then drafted to the Royal Marines School of Music Deal with the appointment of Deputy Drum Major. It was in Deal where "Wiggy" gained his qualification for Sergeant Bugler and also carried out duties with the Training Company at the Royal Marines School of Music in the absence of other qualified staff. After a brief spell in London at the CinCFleet Band, "Wiggy" was appointed to the position of Drum Major Royal Marines and took over the Band at BRNC in March 1994.

In September 1996 he joined the Royal Marines Band Plymouth and embarked on HMS Illustrious for a 6 months deployment around the Far East. On arriving back to the UK he then found that he was drafted to the Command Training Centre once again but this time in a different office.

In July of 1999 he achieved his ambition by becoming the Drum Major of Royal Marines Band Portsmouth, this meant he had served in every band within the Band Service. On being promoted to Warrant Officer 2 he returned to the Royal Marines Band Plymouth until Nov 2004 where he then took up his final appointment as the Corps Drum Major working with the Band in Portsmouth.  He was promoted to Warrant Officer 1 in Aug 2007 and moved to the Headquarters to become the Branch advisor for the Buglers Branch.

Throughout his career "Wiggy" has visited many different countries but being apart of the hand over ceremony in Hong Kong was the highlight.

He now lives in the West Country with his wife and their two children, Rebecca and Lacey.

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Last updated: 11 Jan 2010