Biography
The development of music in the Royal Marines is inextricably linked with the evolution of British military bands. Lively airs and the beat of the drum enabled columns of marching men to keep a regular step. The drum was the normal method of giving signals on the battlefield or in camp. As long ago as the days of Drake and Hawkins the drummer's rhythm would advertise the changing watches or beat the men to quarters.
Without doubt, groups of musicians existed in the Service before 1767, when Royal Marines Divisional Bands were formed at the naval dockyard-bases of Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth and the naval gathering-point of Deal in the Downs, and Marine bands (along with professional bands paid for by captains) provided music on board ship before and during battles of the Napoleonic Wars (eg during the long sail into action at the Battle of Trafalgar). The modern history of the Service, though, begins late in the 19th century, when the task of forming a Royal Naval School of Music to provide Bands for the Royal Navy was assigned to the Marines, with the School being founded in 1903. From then on the Band Service became an integral part of the Corps. Its original home was Eastney Barracks Portsmouth; where it remained until 1930 when it was transferred to the Royal Marines Depot, Deal.
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After the outbreak of World War II, it moved to Malvern, then it divided with the Junior Wing moving to the Isle of Man and the Senior Wing to Scarborough before reuniting at Burford in 1946 and finally returning to Deal in 1950. The amalgamation of the Divisional Bands with the Royal Naval School of Music to form today's Royal Marines Band Service also took place in 1950 when the headquarters and training establishment were re-named the Royal Marines School of Music.
At aprox 8.20am on the 22nd of September 1989, the Royal Marines School of Music at North Barracks,Deal was bombed by the IRA, this resulted in the death of 11 bandsmen including Musician Robert Simmonds and the injury of 22 other marines. The memorial garden is situated in the grounds of the old barracks where the bomb went off. This was built in remembrance of the 11 that died and was then restored after an arson attack a number of years ago. Every year the families and friends of those that died join together at the garden to pay their respects and lay flowers in a memorial service. In 1996 the School of Music was moved to HMS Nelson in the Portsmouth dockyard.
As well as music, the musicians in the Royal Marines Band Service serve with 3 Commando Bridgade as part of the Joint Force Medical Group. They have traditionally served as medics and stretcher bearers, but more recently the musicians have served as drivers.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.