Band Cartoon by Seccombe c1881


Major Seccombe produced a series of cartoons of military types and scenes like this around 1880. He had a good knowledge of military uniform and we can see many aspects of the band uniform of the Grenadier Guards in the early 1880s. All the men depicted are bandsmen, there are no members of the Corps of Drums except the drum-major. The men on the ground at the front with drums are the time-beater with the large drum and another band drummer with a snare-drum. These two have different uniforms to the rest of the band in that they have gold lace chevrons along the length of their sleeves. There is also gold lace decoration on the back of the tunic. A euphonium player with a white moustache obligingly shows the back of his tunic which is plain and unlaced. They all wear gaiters round their ankles which means that they are not in ceremonial guard order, but this is not marching order as the drum-major is wearing his embroidered sash and they do not have water bottles and haversacks.


Regimental details | Band


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by Stephen Luscombe