UBIQUITOUS AMBASSADORS
KNOTTINGLEY SILVER BAND
by TERRY SPENCER B.A. (Hons), Ph D.
CHAPTER ONE
CONTENTS |
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ORIGINS & EARLY HISTORY: CIRCA 1860 - 1900
The advent of the Glassworks Band appears to have cast something of a
shadow over the older ensemble and throughout the 1880s the ‘Glassblowers’
seem to have predominated in events within the town, particularly with
regard to appearances at the Infirmary Sunday gatherings. In 1884, Bagley’s
Band led the parade through the town with Brotherton Band in the middle and
Pontefract Borough Band bringing up the rear, the parade being followed by a
concert of sacred music at Grange Field, Hill Top. (22) Again, in 1886, the
Glassworks Band, conducted by Mr. John Shaw, gave a concert at Howards Field
which included selections of “new music” from ‘The Bohemian Girl’, ‘Art &
Nature’, Weber’s ‘Mass’ and the fantasias ‘La Pariselle’, ‘La Val d’Amour’
and ‘Salutation’. (23)
For a decade and a half from 1884, the Glassworks Band participated in the
events of Dispensary Sunday, usually in conjunction with brass bands from
neighbouring towns such as Pontefract, Castleford, Featherstone and
Brotherton and in 1890 with the military band of the Lancashire & Yorkshire
Regiment. (24) In addition, in 1895, the Glassworks Band under the direction
of Mr. I. Johnson, marched through the town to mark the coming of age of Mr.
Ernest B. Bagley, son of William Bagley, one of the founding partners of the
firm. The bandsmen were reported to be wearing new uniforms, giving them, “a
very fine appearance.” (25)
The uniforms were again on display on Dispensary Sunday 1901, when the
Band under John Shaw, marched to the cricket field at Banks Garth with the
Brotherton Band, conducted by Mr. T. Hardy, and played selections during the
annual demonstration. (26)
The demonstration of 1891 was significant in that both the Knottingley
bands appeared together. The usual procession was designed to coincide with
the conclusion of a cricket match at the Banks Garth field and a lengthy
concert programme had been arranged as evening entertainment. Alas, the rain
which rendered inconclusive the match between Knottingley Town and Fairburn
threatened throughout the speeches of the attendant dignitaries and came
down so heavily shortly after the commencement of the concert that
proceedings had to be abandoned after only two choruses and a couple of
hymns had been sung. (27)
The re-emergence of the Town Band at the demonstration marked the
commencement of an era covering more than half a century during which the
name of the Band was to become synonymous with the event so that by the time
the establishment of the National Health Service in 1948 made fund raising
obsolete, the Band had created an unparalleled attendance record. (28)
Owing to the frequent lack of distinction between the two bands in
newspaper reports concerning Infirmary Sundays during the 1890s it is
uncertain which ensemble appeared on some occasions. Thus, although it was
reported that the “Excellent Town Band performed” in 1894 when the event was
undertaken in conjunction with a special cricket match arranged by the Town
Cricket Club, (29) it is most likely that the Glassworks Band also appeared
on other undefined occasions, the last precise reference being that of 1901.
The ultimate fate of the Glassworks Band is equally as obscure as its
origin. In 1908 the Band was named as an entrant in the forthcoming National
Brass Band Contest to be held at Crystal Palace, London, but for some
unknown reason the Band did not attend the contest. Thereafter the record is
silent. (30)
Similarities of identity, size and repertoire between the Town Band and
the Glassworks Band decreed that the latter were the principal rivals in
terms of ability and prestige. There were, however, other ensembles within
the town during the late Victorian period which although by their nature
posing a less direct threat to the Town Band vied with it in seeking the
physical and financial support of the public. It is noteworthy that music
played such a significant part in the social and cultural life of the local
populace and commendable that so small a community was able to sustain such
a rich and varied musical ethos.
The bulk of the musical organisations, whether vocal or instrumental, were
associated with the churches and chapels within the town and it is therefore
unsurprising that moral attitudes informed both the social occasions, when
music played a part, and also the programmes performed on such occasions. A
strict regard for Sabbath keeping on the part of a substantial element of
the local population was initially, a divisive feature of Infirmary Sunday
with many refusing to support the cause on moral grounds because of the day
on which the annual demonstration was held. (31) When religious tokenism
weakened to the point of acceptance of charitable demonstrations and public
concerts held on the Sabbath, it was nevertheless deemed necessary to
emphasise the ‘sacred’ nature and content of such events.
Similarly, ethical and moral considerations underlay the formation of some
musical groups. As early as 1865, Knottingley Band of Hope had formed a drum
and fife band which participated in local galas and street marches and
demonstrations in support of the Temperance Movement. (32)
Another local band of religious origin was the Red Ribbon or Salvation
Army Band. The local corps had been established within the town by 1880 and
by January 1883, had obtained a plot of land at Carr Lane upon which it was
proposed to erect a citadel or barracks. (33) The first Salvation Army band
had been established by Charles Fry at Salisbury in August 1878 and by 1881
fourteen others were in existence in various English towns. In 1883, to
great public complaint, hundreds of bands were formed by the Salvationists.
(34) The band of the Knottingley corps was apparently established at this
time for in September 1883 it led a parade round the town culminating in a
public address by the local leader, General Bairstow. (35) In August the
year following, an entertainment was given in the newly opened barracks with
proceeds in aid of the Red Ribbon Band. (36)
The newly established sect were obviously enterprising and obtained the
support of a substantial element within the local populace for in 1884 it
was revealed that the Red Ribbon Army had collected £200 in the previous
twelve months to help offset the debt incurred in building their tabernacle,
the Band doubtless playing a prominent part in the religious services and
allied functions of the organisation. (37)
Initial goodwill was transformed into open hostility, however, when in
1885 General Bairstow published a pamphlet in which the poor, particularly
the Catholic Irish, were referred to in less than flattering terms. As a
result riotous scenes occurred in April when a local mob attacked a marching
column of Salvationists as, led by the Band, they toured the streets of
Knottingley to deliver the gospel message. One William Elerington (sic)
drove his horse-drawn mail van through the marching column, an action which
resulted in an appearance at the local magistrate’s court the following
month. (38) A second, successive hostile demonstration occurred against the
Red Ribbon Army when a Knottla mob burnt an effigy of General Bairstow on
the Flatts after the local police, with considerable difficulty, had
succeeded in keeping the two factions apart. (39)
However, within a short space of time the breach had obviously closed for
in August 1889 the ‘Tabernacle’ Band appeared at the Infirmary Sunday
demonstration held at Vale Head Field, Hill Top, where in conjunction with
one of the unidentified Knottingley bands they “played good selections.”
The appearance is all the more surprising, perhaps, because of an initial
decree which prohibited the Salvation Army bands from playing musical
compositions other than those of religious nature, largely confining their
activity to acts of worship. (40) The Ban may also have participated again
in 1895 for a somewhat vague report stated that 2,000 people attended the
demonstration at Howards Field;
“to the strains of Knottingley Band under the direction of Captain Kellyn
and Sgt. Instructor Howland, accompanied by the Castleford Temperance and
Featherstone Brass Bands.” (41)
Given the rank of the bandmaster and his assistant it would suggest that
the band from Knottingley was that of the Salvation Army corps rather that
either of its secular contemporaries.
It was also in the late 1880s that Knottingley String Band was formed to
accompany the town Choral Society. The String Band featured in many social
events in the following two decades, including regular appearances at the
Infirmary Sunday demonstrations. The earliest report is of;
“a small efficient band led by Mr Chambers of Pontefract”, which
accompanied the choir, both groups being under the overall supervision of Mr
Archer, who had founded the Choir the previous decade. (42) Interestingly,
there is no mention of any brass bands being involved in the proceedings in
1887 which paradoxically was a reversal of the situation three years earlier
when it was reported that;
“This year the experiment was a tried of having only an instrumental
concert with the Brass Bands of Pontefract Borough, Castleford Primitive
Methodists and Knottingley taking part.” (43)
The String Band continued to perform at the Infirmary Sunday
demonstrations until well into the twentieth century. In 1903 it accompanied
the massed voices in a rendering of Handel’s ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and the
following year played a selection from ‘Rousseau’s Dream’. (44) Indeed, as
late as 1912 the string band of the Wesleyan Brotherhood, conducted by Mr.
A. Kellet, accompanied the singers but this may have been the final bow for
although the voices of the Wesleyan Brotherhood were heard the following
year they were accompanied by Knottingley Silver Prize Band and on the eve
of the Great War the singers were merely accompanied by a pianist, Mrs Jean
Arnold, of the Congregational Church. (45)
If the appearance of the Knottingley Town Band in the events of Infirmary
Sunday during the 1880s and early 1890s were rare, its voluntary
contribution to local organisations and charities was nevertheless
significant. Nor were such contributions confined to local institutions. In
May 1896, the Band paraded the streets taking a collection en route for the
dependants of the Micklefield Colliery disaster and followed up this effort
by playing the same evening to a large assembly of the townspeople gathered
on the Flatts. (46) The following month the Band again paraded, marching
from the concourse of Knottingley railway station through the thoroughfares
of the town collecting money on behalf of the Society of Railway Servants’
Orphanage, an event which was for many years an annual engagement. (47)
Again, in July 1896, the Band toured the outlying villages of Beal,
Kellington, Whitley and Womersley, raising money on behalf of Pontefract
Dispensary. (48) Presumably the distance between the rural communities was
undertaken by wagonette, yet even so, to parade through each village on this
circular tour represents a considerable feat of endurance and dedication.
It was those very qualities which ensured the survival of the Town Band
for amidst the rivalries and the vicissitudes of time it was the Town Band
which proved to be the more durable of the secular ensembles.
By the turn of the twentieth century the Band’s musical activity fell into
four broad categories; public ceremonies, concert performances, dancing and
contests. The participation of the Band in concerts and ceremonial events
not only engendered its reputation for voluntary work to charities both
local and regional, which was to be a hallmark throughout its entire
existence, but played an important part in promoting cultural appreciation,
for it was through such events that many local people obtained their first
taste of ‘serious’ music. While music for dancing was disparaged by a church
led puritanical element within local society in the third quarter of the
nineteenth century, by the 1880s it was gaining wider acceptance as the
‘brass dance bands’ helped to break social taboos, paving the way in the
case of the Town Band for he formation of the ‘Orchestral Band’ early in the
new century. Of contests the evidence is sparse to the point of
non-existence during the early period of the Band’s history. The fact is
somewhat surprising given that generally from 1845 a profusion of local,
regional and national contests took place, resulting in the standardisation
of repertory and instrumentation. If the Town Band was involved in such
events there is no evidence of it until the early years of the twentieth
century although the frequency with which the Band participated from that
time suggests that contesting was a well established feature of its musical
activity in earlier days.
Terry Spencer, 2006
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