Lectures

5th February 2020: Music in the Armed Forces

Nearly 60 people came to the Wye Historical Society February meeting to hear Dr Emma Hanna speaking on “Sounds of War: Music in the Armed Forces During the Great War”. Based on her forthcoming book, Dr Hanna focused her research on performers (both servicemen and civilians), music in hospitals, makeshift theatres, and in groups such as the Salvation Army and the YMCA. Music was made for a variety of reasons, including fundraising, morale and for religious services. Some of those who joined up were already professional musicians - in 1914 there were 3 million pianos in the UK and 30,000 brass bands. In 1857 The Royal Military School of Music was opened at Kneller Hall in Twickenham and was the home of Army music. In the Navy boys learnt on the job until 1903 when the Royal Naval School of Music was founded at the Eastney Barracks in Portsmouth. The Territorials and new army regiments didn’t have their own bands, however, so there was no one to play at their point of departure. Sometimes the Salvation Army filled this gap as a lack of music was seen to be dangerous. Music was also used for recruitment and fundraising, and patriotic song sheets were issued. John Mackenzie-Rogan, a bandmaster of the Coldstream Guards, used public spaces in London as ad hoc performance spaces to encourage deposits in the Great War Loan savings account. For a long time there was no official music at the front for marching. In 1915 Rogan wanted to take a band over to France; this was agreed and he led three tours of three months each in 1916, 1917 and 1918. For Rogan this was the highlight of his military career and the King even prevented his retirement.

The supply of instruments was haphazard and depended on charity. Many instruments for informal mess performances were improvised such as tin kettle drums and petrol cans. Popular songs included lullabies and ballads as well as some more bawdy numbers. Morale boosting songs were common, as well as those which mocked the Germans and their own officers’ leadership. Gramophones were used in dugouts, ships, aerodromes and hospitals to play classical music, dance numbers and jazz. Music was an important part of entertainment provisions behind the lines provided by the Salvation Army and the YMCA. There was a piano in every YMCA facility and, as they wanted to control what was played, each hut was issued with the YMCA piano album. Some professional musicians were allowed to travel to France, such as married duo Ellaline Terriss and Seymour Hicks, leading names on the Edwardian stage. They were only allowed to perform away from the front, such as in a casino in Boulogne commandeered to serve as a hospital. There was an expectation to perform for free but they still had to make a living. Dame Clara Butt believed performers should be paid and that entertainment was as important as “beer, beef and books”. Concert parties ranged from the highbrow to those performed by the men themselves, often with the help of women’s underwear and wigs. Many professional musicians and performers joined up, so by the end of the war every division had a concert troupe with names such as ‘The Whizz Bangs’, ‘The Jocks’ and ‘The Tivolies’. In POW camps music was sometimes used to hide escape attempts - during one concert while the tuba was played a tunnel was being dug under the stage.

Ellie Morris