Military band

Military Band of the Hampshire Regt

A Military Band is conducted by a Bandmaster and attached to an army unit.

Members of the Viceroy's Band

These were generally seconded from British Army Units. If an ancestor is shown on a record as being in the Viceroy's Band then one should look for him on the Unattached List for that year. Here, besides his name and former regiment , will be found his enlistment details, physical description and other personal information.

External links

• John Kerr - Unattached List- Sergeant in the Viceroy’s Band The Asplin Military History Resources, now archived.
• This link contains Photographs of the Band 1/6th Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment TF, Agra, April 7th 1918 and also 1916 queensroyalsurreys.org.uk, now an archived webpage.
• This link contains a Photograph of the Band 1st Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, Lahore 1932. queensroyalsurreys.org.uk
• This link refers to Bands of the British Army by W.J. Gordon, illustrated by F. Stansell. 1921. It mentions “it is particularly interesting in that it portrays all of the drum horses of the cavalry regiments as well as a representative selection of bandsmen from the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, the foot guards & the infantry of the line - in total, 68 figures”. Available at the British Library UIN: BLL01001467772
• On the night of 4th December 1874, the bandmaster of the 72nd Highlanders, stationed at Peshawar, was carried off by a party of raiders belonging to the Zakha Khel clan.
• History of British Military Bands. military-bands.co.uk, now archived, was a site intending to present an online version of the 3 volume book History of British Military Bands by Gordon Turner & Alwyn W Turner (pub Spellmount 1994-97). However, the complete transcription was not completed but some regiments that saw service in India are mentioned. Available at the British Library Volume 1 UIN: BLL01011696114, V. 2 UIN: BLL01007806340 and V. 3 UIN: BLL01011696114, with accompanying compact discs separately catalogued. Volume 3 is available online at Archive.org, see below.
• "Every Day A Bonus" by Ken Clarke from Regimental Association of The Queen's Own Buffs (PWRR): The Journal issues No 11-14 Autumn 2005- Spring 2007. The pages covering the voyage to India in 1933, time in India, and voyage back to England in 1938 are (11)48-49; (12)29-39; (13)15-25; (14)38.

Issue 11, 12, 13, 14

Issues 11 and 14. He joined the Army as a Boy Musician in 1932 aged 14 and went as part of a a draft to India leaving 4th February 1933 on the troopship HMT Dorsetshire, returning to England on the Dilwara arriving Southampton on 13th January 1938.

Issues 12-14. His time in India with the 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment, in Gough Barracks in the cantonment of Trimulgherry, and time spent in Wellington in the Nilgiri Hills. Issue 13 includes a move of the regiment to Karachi, and his time playing in the band there. Issue 14 includes his time studying at the Royal Military School of Music.

• 8 photographs of the Calcutta Servicemen's Band, 1945 (scroll down to India) from “Vintage Brass Band Pictures - Other Countries” from IBEW (Internet Bandsman's Everything Within)
• Madras Infantry Band no date. Either Madras Army or Indian Army. From an earlier archived version of IBEW
• British Army Music in the Interwar Years: Culture, Performance, and Influence by David Brian Hammond 2017 PhD thesis. The Open University. Contents (academia.edu). There is a section on India pages 233-240.

Historical books online

• Trumpet and Bugle Sounds for the Army: with instructions for the training of trumpeters and buglers, published 1914 archive.org
• Memoirs of the Royal Artillery Band: its Origin, History and Progress: an Account of the Rise of Military Music in England by Henry George Farmer 1904 Archive.org
• "Pipe bands in the India Army: Famous Indian Piper and Composer" The Celtic Monthly: A Magazine for Highlanders page 126, Volume XVI 1908. Archive.org. Includes an image of Pipe Major 72nd Punjabis Ian Baz Khan. The 72nd Punjabis wore the MacDougal tartan on the pipe bag. At the time of the article, the regiment was in Burma.
• The History of British Military Bands, Volume 3 Infantry and Irish by Major Gordon Turner and Alwyn W Turner 1997 Archive.org.

Drummer and Buglers