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I'm Ninety-five

1st British Columbia Regiment “Duke of Connaught’s Own” / 3rd Battalion The Wiltshire Militia / 6th Regiment “Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles” / 13th Hussars / 43rd Regiment of Foot / 49th Regiment 'Hasting Rifles' / 95th (Rifle) Regiment / Annapolis Regiment / British Columbia Regiment / Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) / Elgin Regiment First Volunteer Militia Rifle Company / Green Howards / Rifle Brigade / Royal Green Jackets / Royal Green Jackets / Royal Rifles of Canada / York Rangers Regiment

This popular music hall tune became a regimental march because it was so effective in keeping the men buoyant on the road was arranged by Bandmaster William Miller 1840 but was not adopted by The Rifle Brigade until 1852. The words started: I’m 95, I’m 95 / And to keep single I’ll contrive,/ It’s needles and pins, it’s needles and pins/ And when a man marries, his troubles begin. The Rifle Brigade was formed when the 95th (Rifle) Regiment was changed to a brigade status in 1816. During their stay in Malta during the 1840’s the tune became very popular with the troops especially when Rifleman Goodhall sang it when entertaining the Brigade dressed up like an old woman. Due to its popularity within the army, a special order was issued preventing other units playing it while in the presence of the Rifle Brigade. It was officially adopted in 1852 and later confirmed by Queen Victoria. On November 7th, 1958, their name was changed to The 3rd Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade, then again in 1966 to the Royal Green Jackets that continued its use.

Private Kenny of the 88th Connaught Rangers composed a simple verses based on the tune. When the Rangers were prevented by orders from going in pursuit of the Chief Kreli he wrote a little verse based on the tunes as well. His best efforts were inspired by the successful stand of forty-five Rangers under Major H. G. Moore against 700 Kaffirs at Draaibosch on December 30th, 1877. He stated “But when we got to the Cape in 1846 there were long marches and sore feet ands I now made use of Ninety-five to help the men into camp. The first day the battalion marched into it there was not a limping man amongst the lot, so I continued it during the First Cape war (1846-1848). I did the same in the second Cape War (1851-1853). During our stay at Fort Beaufort (1852) it became the regimental quick march. The march before it was the Huntsman’s Chorus from the opera of Der Freischutz.”

Up to 1863 the 43rd Regiment of Foot adopted it as a quickstep but in the same year changed to music from Conradin Kreutzer’s opera Das Nachtlager von Granada. The influenced may have come from the German Bandmaster and new words were added to make it A Rifleman Am I.

The King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry adopted the march when the regiment was formed in1881. The predecessor the 53rd Regiment of Foot had adopted it earlier but in 1875 replaced it with The Captain with his Whiskers, a song for which the music has been lost but was composed by Hayness Bayly as a music hall comic song.

The old 33rd Regiment of Foot prior to 1881 used the tune as a quick march. The change to The Wellesley may have been due to the fact that I’m Ninety-Five was to popular with other regiments; the 3rd Battalion The Wiltshire Militia played it in slower time rather than the traditional Rifle Brigade cadence; Carabiniers (6th Dragoon Guards) as a quick march for nearly half a century; the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment (The Sherwood Foresters) and was used by the predecessors of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment. The Green Howards use the march after their return form the Crimean war until 1868 when the present march was adopted - Bonnie English Rose. The 13th Hussars also adopted it after the Crimean War.

In 1868 Major General Sir T. Gallwey was appointed Commandant if the Royal Engineers establishment which became the School of Military Engineering. This tune was being used at the time and he ordered the band committee to find a new quick march. The march was to be distinctive and excceptable to the Corps. The Corps finally adopted Wings as their march replacing I’m Ninety-Five.

In Canada the 49th Regiment 'Hasting Rifles' amalgamated in 1920 with The 16th Prince Edward Regiment to form The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment. Other units were added through additional amalgamations but the regiment retained this old Rifles march; the British Columbia Regiment used this march through their alliance with The Royal Green Jackets. The Regiment started when the 6th Regiment “Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles” formed from an artillery unit. In 1920 the 1st British Columbia Regiment “Duke of Connaught’s Own” were formed then ten years later adopted the present day title. Throughout all the changes the march was retained and a link to their rifles past maintained; the Elgin Regiment used the march since their predecessors were formed in 1866 as the First Volunteer Militia Rifle Company of St. Thomas. The regiment has been both infantry and armoured but have always retained the march as a link to their Rifle past. In 1997 the Regiment became 31 Combat Engineer Regiment retaining this march; the Royal Rifles of Canada used the march as did York Rangers Regiment prior to becoming The Queen’s York Rangers. Before amalgamation in 1936 to form the West Nova Scotia Regiment, the Annapolis Regiment of Nova Scotia, had used this march for many years.

The march is number 58 on the Kneller Hall March List of April 1st, 1883. The march consists of two repeated sections containing separate themes. It is interesting to note that it has numerous grace notes and in the B section a long held trill. The harmonic content demonstrates a dedication to very high quality arrangements.

Imperial Echoes

Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3rd Bn) / Royal Army Pay Corps

The British Broadcasting Corporation was founded under the leadership of an English engineer named John Charles Reith. He ran the BBC for the next 16 years and made it one of Britain's most revered institutions. During WW2 the radio corporation became a continuous source of hope and news for occupied Europe. They also began searching for a new sound that they could use to introduce for its daily Radio Newsreel. This tune, composed by Arnold Safroni-Middleton in 1913, was agreed upon and became very popular to many listeners who waited for the opening bars and the bulletins on the progress of the war that followed. The march sat for nearly thirty years before taken up by the BBC.

The British Army has under gone several changes and one unit affected was the Royal Army Pay Corps. They had used the march as their Regimental March Past until they were incorporated into the present day Royal Army Logistical Corps. When the Army Pay Department was formed followed by the Army Pay Corps eleven years later, the duties of accounting were handed over to the Pay Corps. The Corps was formed in 1920 when the two were amalgamated and the title Royal confirmed shortly afterwards.

The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry's, 3rd Battalion uses it for their signature march. Other marches used by the various battalions are: 1st Battalion The Maple Leaf Forever, 2nd Battalion March Winnipeg, and the 4th Battalion (Loyal Edmonton Regiment) Bonnie Dundee.

Inniskilling Dragoons

The Inniskillings (6th Dragoons)

The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, before being amalgamated into the 5th/6th Dragoons which later became the 5th Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, then finally the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in 1922. The slow march was used by The Inniskillings (6th Dragoons) prior to their 1922 amalgamation but was not retained. They are one of the four ancestor regiments of the Royal Dragoon Guards a present day cavalry regiment formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments: 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards and the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards.

Inseparable

4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards

This march composed by E. Hall in 1842, was used by the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1800's but was not retained when the regiment amalgamated in 1922 with 7th Dragoon Guards (Princess Royal's). The new regiment, the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards adopted the march St. Patrick's Day.

The Invasion March

New Brunswick Regiment (Tank)

The New Brunswick Regiment (Tank) was organized in 1936 from the 7th Machine Gun Battalion, C.M.G.C. and adopted this march. Little is known about the march or the composer and why it was adopted. At the outbreak of WW2 it supplied several officers on callout and was responsible for security of vital rail, bridge, and DND installations in this area such as the Seaplane Base, Shediac, and #5 Equipment Depot, Moncton.

In April 1941 the regiment recruited one squadron for overseas duty as the Headquarters Squadron of the First Canadian Armoured Brigade. It was in this formation the regiments fought as a unit in the WW2 in both the Italian and North West Europe Campaigns. The brigade holds 2 records: In action longer than any other formation of the Canadian Army and the longest unbroken period of action for the whole Canadian Army. Field Marshall Sir Bernard L. Montgomery KCB DSO stated after the Sangro & Ortona Battles - "If you want a job done get the First Canadian Armoured Brigade" January 1944.

The regiment continued in Moncton throughout the war as the 19th Army Tank Regiment (New Brunswick Regiment (Tank)) to recruit and train officers and men in basic training, followed by tank training and later reconnaissance training with carriers and armoured cars. During the years 1936 to 1946 it went through several minor changes in name but still retained "The New Brunswick Regiment" in brackets, thereby continuing its affiliation. The home regiment had the enviable reputation of sending more officers and men to active service from the unit than any other reserve unit in New Brunswick. More than 2000 all ranks passed through the unit to Active Service. In 1946, on reorganization of the Militia, the New Brunswick Regiment (Tank) was renamed "The 64th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment (New Brunswick Regiment) RCA" adopting the standard artillery marches until their disbandment in 1959.

Invercargill

Land Forces Western Area

The march was composed by Alex F. Lithgow in 1913 and relates to a city in the southernmost area of New Zealand where the composer lived. He became a leader of the Garrsion Band when he was 20 and was later replaced by his brother when he moved to Lauceston, Tasmania. Here he conducted the St. Joseph Band. His brother contacted him with an appeal for music to play at an upcoming band competition. This march had been rejected by a publisher earlier but was sent due to the lack of time to compose a new piece. He gave the title Invercargill dedicated to the town and the success was instant.

Today it is used by the Land Force Western Area that is one of four area commands of the Canadian Army established on September 1st, 1991. LFWA consists of three Reserve Brigade Groups, One Regular Mechanized Brigade Group, One Area Support Group, Western Area Training Centre and CFB Suffield, Alberta. LFWA's three Reserve Brigades are 38 Canadian Brigade Group (Winnipeg), 39 Canadian Brigade Group (Vancouver) and 41 Canadian Brigade Group (Calgary). It includes more than 6,000 regular force and 5,700 reserve force members.

Irish Washerwoman

9th Queen’s Royal Lancers

The first known printing of this dance is in Neil Gow’s A Third Collection of Strathspey Reels and for the Piano-forte, Violin and Violoncelle. Nine copies of the work were entered at Stationers’ Hall on March 6, 1792. The dance appeared two years later in volume IV of James Aird’s A Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign. The tune was adopted by The 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers as a regimental gallop and arranged by P. Kitson.

Italian Song

43rd Regiment of Foot / Royal Green Jackets

Once used by the 43rd Regiment of Foot - The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a regimental march. Today it is used along with the Huntsman’s Chorus as the quick march for the Royal Green Jackets.

It’s a Long Way to Tipperary

Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry

Country music hall singer Jack Judge and a disabled musician Harry Williams composed the song. The original title was A Long Way to Connemara, but was changed by Judge just before a performance at Satlybridge Music Hall on January 31, 1912. He substituted Tipperary a more common name and gained the reputation of being the author. This created friction between the two but all was forgiven when the song became popular. When Judge took the song to the publisher, Mr. Bert Feldman insisted that another "long" be added to the lyrics pointing out that it went better with the rhythm. After the troops took up the song during world war one, the two men received five pounds a week in royalties for life. Williams died in 1924 and Judge thirty years later in 1954. It is the second song in the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Regimental March.

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