The 1st Battalion, the Norfolk Regiment was stationed in Warley, near Brentwood in Essex from February 1907 until December 1909 when they went to Aldershot. This photo is clearly titled ‘Band of 1st Norfolk Regiment 1909’. But it is not clear if the band posed at Warley or at Malplaquet Barracks, Aldershot. There are a large number of different instruments, held by 49 musicians. The band sergeant sits on the right, and four officers sit two each side of the time-beater’s drum. The officers have frock-coats and peaked forage caps which would also be worn by the bandmaster, but he would have a band badge on his right sleeve, and that is not apparent. The older officer sitting to the left of the drum is Lieutenant-Colonel John Marriott who took over command in January 1909. The Regimental Sergeant-Major sits to the left of the officers. Some of the instruments indicate that the band played at many static performances as well as being a marching band.
The uniforms worn by the musicians are the scarlet dress tunic with yellow collar, cuffs and shoulder straps. The shoulder wings are scarlet with white lace stripes and edges. Two men in the top row, on the left, holding bass trombones do not have shoulder wings, presumably because they would get in the way of the instrument. They all have a brass band badge on their upper right arm. The forage cap, introduced in 1907, has been worn by the British infantry ever since, almost unchanged. For a non-royal regiment like the Norfolks it was all dark blue with a red piping edge to the top rim. The bimetal badge had Britannia inside a laurel wreath and title scroll beneath.
Regimental Details | Band and Drummers
