THEIR OWN MARCH

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 13, 16 July 1934, Page 3

THEIR OWN MARCH

BRITISH REGIMENTS

THE SIGNATURE TUNES

OF HISTORIC INTEREST

' .Everyone today is familiar-with the so called "signature . tunes" of dance baads. and. other .wireless entertaiuors, but it is not so generally known that

the Army has long had its own sigua--.: ture tunes—^m.any of them.of nistorical interest, says' tho "Manchester Cftiardiian:-' "At a big .review you would notice ho\y'i the music changes as different regiments pass the saluting base. Every battalion marches past to its own signature tune—known as the regimental 'march—and this is also invariably played'when -thei -regiment marches into barracks or camp and at the end of a band concert, immediately befororthe National Anthem. ■•' •

Every regiment is thus recognisable by- its :march. ; So. that if you heard the- aiotes! of "Hero's to the Maiden of Bashful Fifteen" succeeded by "Rule, Britannia," you would know that the King's" Regiment (Liverpool) had b,een !'f olio wed'by the Norfolk Regiment. In the' same way the iLincbhis play "The Lincolnshire Poacher,", the-Royal Warwicks "Warwickshire Lads," the Sufr folks "Speed thePlou'gh," and the East Yorkshires ."The Yorksixire Lass."'

FUSILIER REGIMENTS.

• AM 1 iusili'er -regiments have- "The British - Grenadiers" as their official I march, but most of them have some more distinctive . tune in. addition. The Royal Fusiliers play Charles Godfrey's song "The Seventh R^oyal Fusiliers," "'. the lloyaV Welsh Fusiliers ;"M,en. of Harleeh". "aiid ''& ..march speci- ■ ally composed for them by Sousa^ the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers ",'£\xo bprig of Shillelagh,'' and the Lancashire Fusiliers "The Minden March," in memory of the' -Battle of Minden in

1759.

Similarly, although "Highland Laddie" is the march-past ;of all Highland regiments, these, too, prefer their own "signature tuues"; so the gay lilt of "The Cock.o' the JSforth" announces the Gordons and "The Campbells are Coming", the Argyll, and Sutherland. It is rather surprising to find that a number of English regiments have chosen Scottish or Irish tunes for .their marches. ■-i.lt'- is natural enough that the < King's ' Own Scottish -Borderers should 'have ."Blue ,'Bonnets over the ! Border," but why should the Boyal West Kent Regiment pick on "A Hundred Pipers an" A' "for their quick-step? More appropriate selections are the South Staffordshires' "Conic, Lasses and Lads," the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantfy!s "With Jockey to. the Fair/ and the'"King's Shropshire Light Infantry's "Old-;Towler." Tho two regular battalions of a regiment have . not always the same marches. -In the Gloucestershire Regiment, for instance; the Ist Battalion plays "The Kynegad Slashers," a lively Irish melody,' and the 2nd Battalion a Scottish" air. knowii.as "The Highland .Piper.?' ..'.';'.'.' ";.':.' ,':'...''•'.,-.,/.. '; ■ -, ~ ■

"THE EOYAL WINDSOR."

In the Middlesex Eegiment the .position is reversed, for the Ist Battalion's march is a combination of the Scottish airs "Lass o'. Cowrie" and "Jock o' Hazeldeah," and that of the 2nd Battalion is called VPaddy's Resource." The Army's signature tunes are by np means confined to old national and local soiigs,; forrsome regiments have gone to' grand opera for their marches and'in. others a piece of music has been specially composed; [ The Prince' Consort thus- honoured" the Somerset Light Infantry, arid Princess Augusta, daughter of George 111, presented the Worcestershire Regiment with their excellent march "The Royal Windsor."

Operatic selections used as regimental marches include Verdi's "Aida," the Eoyal Horse Guards; the Soldiers' 'Chorus from Gounod's "Faust," the sth Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, and the Royal Dragoons; slow march from "Figaro," the- Coldstream .Guards; Kreutzer's ''Kachtlager in Granada," the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry; The Huntsmen's Chorus from Weber's "Der Freisehutz," the King's Royal Rifles; Donizetti's ""The Daughter of the Regiment," 2nd Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry.

LINK WITH HISTORY.

There are several .regiments whose marches arc a definite link with some episode iii military history. "The Royal Sussex March" is a French air said to have been picked up "by the regiment at Quebec, where they defeated the ■ Roussillon Grenadiers,' whose white plume they still wear as a badge. "The Young May Moon'? of the Sherwood Foresters commemorates that regiment's moonlight \ march to take part in the storming oil Badajos. The i Cheshire's march past to the Scottish air "Wha wadna' fight for Charlie?" iti compliment to Sir Charles Napier, under whose command they fought and, won' at Meeanee. The Border ■ Regiment has incorporated with its own* "John Peel" a few bars of the: march of the French 34th Regiment, which it captured, along with the drums and drum-major's staff, at Arroyo dos Molirios in 1811. ' Fiually there is the West Yorkshire Regiment, which for one hundred and forty years has played; the French revolutionary air "Ca ira." The French bands continually inspired the

defenders of the entrenched camp at Famars by playing this tune. When the British attacked the Colonel of the 14th Foot (now the West Yorkshires) cried: "Come on, lads, we'll

beat 'cm to their own damned tune v and they did.