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Paddy's Resource

Middlesex Regiment / Queen’s Regiment

Just before the days of Sebastopol, during the Crimean War, Lieutenant Colonel Stratton, Commander Officer of the 77th Regiment, instructed his band sergeant to compose a march for the regiment. O'Connor paid tribute to many Irish men in the ranks which accounts to the Irish flavour. The conditions were not really good to creative composing, especially in the Crimea. Sickness, daily regimental duties and the lack of proper writing material meant nothing to the colonel and he would have his march. With little choice but to find a spot where he could concentrate, O'Connor set about on a difficult task and finally produced a tune that answered Colonels request. As a tribute to the difficulties he had overcome, it was called Paddy's Resource.

During the 1948 amalgamations and the creation of the 1st & 2nd Bn Middlesex Regiment this march and Sir Manley Power arranged by Bandmaster Thirtle. The 2nd Battalion used the march until another amalgamation to form the 4th Bn. The Queen’s Regiment when it became a secondary march until their 1970 disbandment.

Palace Guard

Somerset Light Infantry / Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry

Composed by Bandmaster A. E. James of The Somerset Light Infantry this slow march was used on public duties in London during 1936. When the regiment was amalgamated in 1959 it was retained by the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry but dropped in the 1968 amalgamation forming the Light Infantry.

Parade Quickstep

Norfolk Regiment

Norfolk Regiment used this march, of which little is known, along with The Mountain Rose. The regiment began in 1866 as the 39th Norfolk Battalion of Infantry and later became the Norfolk Rifles until they were reorganized as the Norfolk Regiment of Canada in 1928. At this time the march was dropped but The Mountain Rose was retained.

Pas Au 80th Batallion

80th Nicolet Regiment of Nicolet

The 80th Nicolet Regiment of Nicolet, Quebec before its disbandment in 1918 used the march although little is known about it or the composer.

Passing By

Women’s Royal Naval Service

The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS popularly and officially known as Wrens) was the women's branch of the Royal Navy. Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists and electricians. It was formed in 1917 during WW1 and had 5,500 members when disbanded in 1919. It was revived in 1939 with an expanded list of allowable activities, including flying transport planes. At its peak in 1944 it had 75,000 people. During the war there were 100 deaths. One of the slogans used in recruiting posters was "Join the Wrens -- free a man for the fleet." It remained in existence after the war and was finally integrated into the regular Royal Navy in 1993.

Pay Parade

Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps

In 1907 the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps was formed as the Canadian Army Pay Corps. In 1967 during the unification of the Canadian Forces the corps was disbanded its personnel were absorbed in the newly created Administrative Branch. The Old Corps name and marches were lost into history.

Pibroch of Donuil Dubh

(Piobaireach of Donald Dhu / Piobaireachd Dhomhuill Duibh)

Cameron Highlanders of Canada / Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa / Nova Scotia Highlanders / Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders / Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada / Queen’s Own Highlanders Seaforth Highlanders / Seaforth Highlanders of Canada

The pibroch is the classical music of the bagpipes and often commemorates great persons or events. It has a place in the clan Cameron and Clan Donald tradition. In Cameron history it is believed to refer to Donald Dubh, traditionally the 11th Chief who led the clan from about 1400 to 1460. The tune appeared in Oswald’s Claedonian Pocket Companion of 1764 as Pioberachd Mhic Dhonuil. The song by Sir Walter Scott was written in 1816 for Alexander Campbell’s Albyn’s Anthology. The music was transposed from canntaireachd to staff notation by Alexander Campbell, as a basis for Scott’s words and the well known 6/8 pipe march has evolved from it.

The Queen’s Own Highlanders adopted it as a Pipe and Drums quick march during the 1961 amalgamation of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and the Seaforth Highlanders. In Canada several Canadian Scottish infantry regiments adopted this old Scottish favourite as their regimental march in combination with other tunes - the Nova Scotia Highlanders 1st Battalion with The Atholl Highlanders; the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa with March of the Cameron Men; the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada with the March of the Cameron Men and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada with Blue Bonnets Are O’er the Border.

Pioneer Corps

Royal Pioneer Corps

The composer, Norman Demuth, an officer in the Royal Pioneer Corps during the Second World War, wrote the march in 1945 at the request of the Commandant of the Corps OCTU. The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combattant corps used for light engineering tasks. The Royal Pioneer Corps was raised in 1939 as the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps. It was renamed the Pioneer Corps in Novemebr 1940 and again as the Royal Pioneer Corps in November 1946. On 5 April 1993, the Royal Pioneer Corps united with the Royal Corps of Transport, the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the Army Catering Corps and the Postal and Courier Service of the Royal Engineers to form the Royal Loogistic Corps.

Plains of Waterloo

Gordon Highlanders

This march is associated with the Gordon Highlanders and composed by Sergeant Grant a member of the 92nd Regiment who served at the Battle of Waterloo with the words in seven verses.

Point of War

99th Regiment of Foot / Royal Air Force

The 99th Foot (The Wiltshire Regiment) once used this march along with Blue Bonnets over the Border. This relic of the old 18th century drum and fife beatings is still played at Long Reveille, at Beating Retreat and as the General Salute on parade for The Queen’s Own Highlanders. It was originally a compliment to the Colours of the Regiment and used by the Regiment until their amalgamation. The Royal Air Force adopted this Army piece and tradition of playing it during Colour and Standard ceremonies.

Pomp and Circumstance No. 4

The Parachute Regiment

Sir Edward Elgar intended to write six marches under the collective heading "Pomp and Circumstance", but after composing the first four between 1901 and 1907 and the fifth in 1930 the set was never completed. No. 4 was composed in 1907 and received its first public performance at Queen’s Hall, London on September 4th that same year. It became popular in England in WWII when it was adapted as the Song of Freedom with the words by Sir Alan Herbert. The Parachute Regiment adopted it as their slow march.

Pompadour

Essex Regiment

The 2nd Battalion The Essex Regiment used this Leo Stanley march of the same name. In 1881 the Cardwell reforms brought sweeping changing to the British Army that included changes to the facing colours of regiments. The colour used for the new 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment (the old 56th Regiment of Foot) became a shade of crimson used and named after the Marquise de Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV, thus the regiment acquired the nickname The Pompadours.

Pork, Beans and Hard Tack

See Old Solomon Levi

Post Horn Gallop

Royal Air Force College, Cranwell / Royal Canadian Postal Corps

The Post Horn is a valved brass instrument producing natural tones only, so called because horns of this type were blown by the guards of mail coaches on entering a village or town. Sometimes long and straight or coiled, it is used for special effects in the modern orchestra.

As the British Army left for the Crimean War, Portsmouth was used as a major naval base where the ships were loaded. The public could see how ready the Army was as they past through the crowded streets of the cheering populace. As they march the bands played tunes familiar with the public but one of the naval brigades that accompanied the army wrote a cherry song to the Posthorn Gallop. The poem gave the gay impression of Portsmouth at the time.

The musical customs of the Royal Air Force are not as old as the Navy or Army but in their own way just as important and unique. Among these is a custom observed after dinner on Guest Nights at the Royal Air Force College, Cranwell - the playing of this tune. It is a traditional Post Horn call used in the old days of coaching, but its peculiar appositives to the College is not apparent. It may have something to do with the College being located in Lincolnshire that is a hunting county.

The Royal Canadian Postal Corps (RCPC) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army that was created in 1911 and disbanded in 1946 with the work of the Corps being done by ex-members employed with the Royal Canadian Army Service Corps. It was reactivated in 1950 as the Canadian Postal Corps with Royal being granted by the Queen. With the reorganization of the CF in 1964 the Corps was amalgamated with the Postal Services of the Navy and Air Force. All personnel were allocated to the newly created Administrative Branch. In 1967 the Corps was officially disbanded.

PPCLI Regimental March

(Has Anyone Seen The Colonel?, Its a Long Way to Tipperary, Mademoiselle from Armentieres)

The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry was raised in 1914 comprising of ex-regulars from Canadian and British Armies. The unit fought in world war one with the Canadian Expeditionary Force of 1915 and chose songs popular of the day as their regimental march, arranged into a melody. Captain Tommy James, the first Director of the PPCLI Band, described how the march came into being: I reported to the Regiment soon after my appointment as Director of the PPCLI Band on the 20th of January, 1920. I was told that the Regiment was without a regimental march and I discussed the matter with some senior officers.

It was decided that since the Regiment fought in the Great War, the songs should reflect that time while being tuneful enough for troops to sing on the march. The songs selected were much favoured at the time and an arrangement was composed. This march would become one of the most favourite in the Canadian Forces. Each battalion have separate marches; 1st Battalion The Maple Leaf Forever, 2nd Battalion March Winnipeg, 3rd Battalion Imperial Echoes and the 4th Battalion (Loyal Edmonton Regiment) Bonnie Dundee.

Precision

Royal Military College of Canada

In 1874 provision for a Military College was made and two years later on 1 June 1876, The Military College of Canada began with the motto 'Truth, Duty, Valour. The composer was Madame Denise Chabot the wife of French department Major CA Chabot RCA. They lived in married quarters on campus and Madame Chabot often heard cadets singing popular marching songs. The favorite song of the 1932 graduating class was Madelon and was used by Madame Chabot as a base for her march. It was presented to the College in 1932 with no title but later became the RMC March and was later orchestrated for a military band by Captain F.W. Coleman, RCHA. The march had a sub title – Precision and was used as the theme music of the feature film of RMC title also Precision. After her march was used in the film she decided to call her composition by the same title. Today it is used as a quickstep for their military band.

Preobrajensky March

HM Royal Marines

In 1964 the Royal Marines celebrated their tercentenary. To mark the occasion, Earl Mountbatten, a Life Colonel of the Corps, presented The Preobrajensky March to be the new Regimental Slow March of the corps. The tune, as the title indicates, was once associated with the Russian Czarist Preobrajensky Guard, of which the Earl's uncle had been a Colonel. The composer was believed to be an officer of the Guard but little is known and confirmed.

The march was already in the Royal Naval School of Music repertoire by the end of the First World War under the title Russian Parade. It also had a military band selection called The Glory of Russia in which the march appeared as the Preobrajensky March. Hawkes and Sons in 1917 published the march the same year the Preobrajensky Regiment was disbanded in Russia. The march had been featured many times during the Beat Retreat ceremony in the 1930’s. The march was used as an inspection march for guards of honour and in 1964 it finally became the official slow march of the Royal Marines.

The clue to its appearance in the film Anna Karenina is that the Hawkes and Sons edition The Glory of Russia is credited to Mr. Krain and Mr. Lotter, arranged for military band by Frank Winterbottom. When compared to the version arranged by Sir Vivian Dunn for the Royal Marines, there appears to be little difference except for the harmonization and scoring.

A copy present by Lord Mountbatten came to him through his Royal family connections with King Alfonso of Spain. In 1970 he expressed his wish that the march be included in the music of the Household Cavalry and played on ceremonial occasions such as The Queen’s birthday. The Director of the Life Guards at the time wrote “This is a fine march and is particularly suited for a Mounted Band when playing in the following manner; Start at second bar and play sections one and two only, DC and finish at the third beat of the eight bar.” In 1979 a letter from Regimental Headquarters confirmed that this march should not be included as an official march of the Life Guards. Arranged for the Royal Marines as their slow march, it was presented by the massed bands of the Royal Marines during a Beating Retreat ceremony at Horse Guards. The ceremony was in honour of Prince Philip’s birthday on 10 June 1964.

Pride of Lions

The Adjutant General’s Corps (AGC)

Pride of Lions was the winner of a competition to find the new quick march for the AGC. Written by Denis Burton, this march contains hidden strains from Early One Morning, The Girl I Left Behind Me and Greensleeves. The Corps was formed in April 1992 when the four branches of the British Army came under one Corps but retained their separated identities - Staff and Personnel Support Branch, Provost Branch, Education and Training Services Branch and the Army Legal Services Branch. The Corps Band was formed in April 1992 from the disbanded WRAC Staff Band but did not receive official status until the results of the Band Review were announced in March 1993.

Primrose and Blue

Royal Army Pay Corps / Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps

The Royal Army Pay Corps used the march from 1926 to 1952 as composed by WO1 H. Lovering was a member of the Corps and a musician in his own right. In 1952 it was replace by Imperial Echoes. The Corps was responsible for administering all financial matters until it amalgamated into the Adjutant General’s Corps in 1992.

In 1907 the Royal Canadian Army Pay Corps was formed as the Canadian Army Pay Corps. In 1967 during the unification of the Canadian Forces the corps was disbanded its personnel were absorbed in the newly created Administrative Branch and the march was replaced with Old Comrades.

Prince Albert’s March

Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Alberts) / Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry

Believed to have been composed for the Regiment by the Prince Consort is questionable as the RMSM possesses a manuscript score of the 1840s arranged by Hermann Exkersberg, the German bandmaster of the 4th RIDG, who attributes the tune to Stephen Glover of London. The march was adopted in 1872 and for a time was the only regimental march in the army to be played by band and bugles together. Raised in 1685, The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Alberts) were converted to Light Infantry in 1822 and in 1838 achieved great fame by defending Jillasabad in the 1st Afghan War that lasted five months. When the relief force arrived the band played “Oh, but we’ve been long time o’ coming”. The Queen recognized the gallantry by granting “Royal” to the regiment. The Somerset Light Infantry adopted the march in 1872 until 1959 the creation of the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry. When the regiment was formed this march and Trelawney were arranged into the new Regimental march by Bandmaster Peter Parkes.

Prince of Denmark’s March

(Trumpet Voluntary)

Royal Army Chaplains’ Department

The Royal Army Chaplains Department slow and quick march was composed by Henry Purcell. It first appeared in the early 18th century in A Choice Collection of Ayres for the Harpsichord under the title of The Prince of Denmark's March.

Prince of Wales’s

Somerset Light Infantry

This march was discovered in 1954 by the Musical Director of the Arts Council, John Dension, who served with the regiment during WW2. Additionally he discovered what appeared to be a country folk dance titled Quickstep of the XIIIth. Both of these tunes predate the Somerset Light Infantry becoming the Light Infantry.

Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire

Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire

The Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire was formed 25th April 1958 by the amalgamation of The West Yorkshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's Own) (14th of Foot) and The East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York's Own) (15th of Foot). This march was used by the regiment and comprised of two marches Ca Ira and The Yorkshire Lass. In 2006 it was amalgamated to form the Yorkshire Regiment and although the march was not adopted Ca Ira is used as the regimental march.

Pro Patria

Royal Canadian Regiment

This original slow march was composed by Sergeant Claude Keast a former musician in the Sandhurst Military Band before coming to Canada. It is interesting to note that Keast composed this march on the band bus during a tour with the RCR Band in 1961. The first performed was by the RCR Band during the 1961 Trooping of the Colour. Their motto is also the title of this march “FOR COUNTRY”. The march was also adopted by the 3rd Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment (London and Oxford Fusiliers).

Punjaub

King’s Own Rifles of Canada / Saskatchewan Dragoons

Punjab is a historical region in Pakistan and NW India. The Punjab was a province of British India from 1849 until 1947 when it was partitioned. The 1893 cavalry regiments of the British Army were very found of this march when first published. The composer was serving in India at the time when the major uprising in the Punjaub took place followed by another in the Sutlej area. Three regiments were known to have taken part in both wars were the 3rd Hussars, 9th Lancers and the 14th Hussars. Payne may have served in one at the time of composing the march.

Charles le Thiere rearranged the music before it’s publication and from then on just about all bands began playing especially the cavalry. Generations of troopers marching behind the regimental bands on church parades became familiar with its strains as were the musicians themselves. So much so that they even concocted words to the melody “How can I draw forage when I’m stuck on stable guard” and so on.

The Saskatchewan Dragoons adopted through the reorganization of the King’s Own Rifles of Canada to an armoured regiment but dropped the second march The Buffs. The march has been retained through the years but how the regiment adopted a march from India is unknown. One explanation is that while the 46th Battalion, CEF (perpetuated by The Saskatchewan Dragoons) were serving in Europe during the world war one it fought along side British regiments whose forerunners had served in India and adopted it for their own march.

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