extracted text

CHAPTER VII
THE THIRTEENTH BATTALION BAND

HE patriotic fund committee, on October 6th, 1866,
presented the commanding officer the sum of $1,000.
and a committee, consisting of Lieut.-Colonel Skinner,
Captain Watson, Captain Askin and Lieut. Ritchie, was
appointed to take the necessary steps towards organizing
a band, such being the disposition which the patriotic
fund committee desired to be made of the money. A
band was immediately organized and in good working
order in a few weeks, and since that time the battalion has always
had an efficient band. The first bandmaster was Mr. P. Grossman, who held the position till 1869, when he was succeeded by
Mr. George Robinson (late of the band of H. M. Prince Consort's
Own Regiment). After one year's service Mr. Robinson retired.
Mr. Wm. Blanchard then assumed the leadership, but the position
again became vacant, owing to his decease, on January i7th,
1871. Mr. Robinson was then induced to assume his former position as bandmaster, in which capacity he has officiated until the present time. In October
of 1873, the instruments becoming worn out, it was decided to replace them,
and steps were taken for the purchase of a new set of Besson's manufacture,
valued at $1,800. The money for the purchase of these instruments was raised
by subscription among the officers and men of the battalion, and in March,
1874, the new instruments were placed in the hands of the bandsmen.
Inasmuch as the battalion itself was organized only four years before 1866,
the history of the band dates almost identically with the history of the battalion,
and November 1st, of this year, bringing to a close the 30 years of George
Robinson's labors as bandmaster, the present is an opportune time in which to
review briefly the history of the band and its leader.
Before this is done, however, it must not be forgotten that previous to
1866 there were bands in the city—bands with mercurial memberships and an
uncertain hold upon existence. Perhaps the first one of these that merits rec.

73

ognition was the organization known as the Temperance band, brought together in 1851, under the leadership of Peter Grossman. It was the outcome
of the great wave of temperance which swept over the country at that time, and
was run under the auspices of the temperance societies of the city. When the
cold water wave of sentiment receded, this band became disorganized, and a
new company of players was formed in 1853, under the name of the City band,
Mr. Grossman still being its conductor.
About this time Colonel Booker (afterwards Lieut.-Colonel of the Thirteenth Battalion) was much interested and very enthusiastic in military matters,

THE THIRTEENTH BATTALION BAND

and had an independent artillery corps under his control, their guns having been
cast for them in the Great Western car shops, which were then located in Hamilton. The Colonel was as enthusiastic about music as he was about military matters, and through his efforts the old City band became merged into the Hamilton
Independent Artillery band. This happened in 1856, and, under this name, Mr.
Grossman kept his players together until 1862, when, as is nearly always the
case, a re-action set in, and for nearly four years the genealogical line of our
present well-known band was almost lost. But not altogether, for enough of
the old artillery players were around to form the nucleus of a new organization,
74

and that new organization was our own Thirteenth Battalion Band, it being
recognized for the first time as a band of the regiment on Nov. 12, 1866, with
Mr. Grossman at its head.
It was in 1862, at the time of the Trent trouble, that George Robinson came
to Canada and Hamilton with the Rifle Brigade. Although he stayed in the
Rifle Brigade for four years, being stationed at Kingston, Montreal and
Quebec, he could not forget Hamilton. So much did he think of her and
her prospects that he secured his discharge from the Rifles, and in 1866 came
back to the city of his choice, little dreaming at the time that he would here be
leader of the crack band of the Dominion for a period of thirty years.
At the time Mr. Robinson took charge of the band the state of music- in
Canada, and in fact, all over America, was not very encouraging. There were
good bands and good bandmasters of the old schools, but methods and instruments were of necessity primitive, and the standard of musical composition in
use was low. The appearance in Canada of the British military bands did
much to cause an improvement in this country, and across the line the day of
real advancement may be said to ha ve dawned at the time of the Boston Jubilee
festival. George Robinson was not behind in grasping all improvements
within reach, and, so far as lay within the often limited means of the band, new
instruments were purchased, and a better class of music taken up. The old
German instruments of other days were laid away, and Besson's English, make
substituted. New instruments have made their appearance, and, whenever
possible, these were added. Among these are the bass and tenor clarionettes,
the oboe, the double bass and slide trombone, the bassoon, French horns,
saxaphones and tympani, these latter being among the last added.
Because advantage was taken of these improvements in instruments, and
because at all times better things were sought for in the way of compositions,
the Band of the Thirteenth Battalion grew in favor, and its fame as A. first-class
musical organization spread throughout the country. It was not only in and
around Hamilton that the bandsmen's services were demanded by the people,
but in other Canadian cities also. In Toronto in 1874, at Montreal in 1878 and
at Ingersoll in 1879 there were band competitions in which the Hamilton band
took part, and under George Robinson's leadership creditably acquitted itself in
competition with the best military bands of the country. When the Peace Jubilee was held at Berlin in 1871 the band was there, the big attraction of that
immense gathering. At Montreal with the Royal Templars ; in Toronto
more times than can be easily told; at Sarnia to enliven the proceedings of
the great tunnel opening, and in many other Canadian towns has the band
played.
In the United States the band's greatest conquests have been made in company with the members of St. Bernard Commandery, Knights Templar, of
-

75

Chicago. With this commandery, trips have been made to Chicago, St. Louis,
Boston, Denver and Washington, the Canadians on every occasion being
royally treated and unstintingly praised by both press and people. The
St. Bernard _ Commandery in 1891 made a visit to Hamilton and to the
Thirteenth Battalion Band.
At St. Louis the band and its leader were honored in a marked manner by
the late P. S. Gilmore, who was in charge of the musical festivities. That
gentleman, with his wide knowledge of bands and band music, selected the
Canadian organization, from among the many there, to play a separate selection,
a thing done by only one other band, and that one Gilmore's own.
At Washington also an incident occurred that was not only unique, but
interesting, and called forth most kindly expressions from the American press.
The bandsmen, together, visited the tomb of the great Washington, at Mount
Vernon, and there, with the Union Jack draped over the bass drum, played a
funeral dirge to the memory of that great man.
During its Denver trip, in 1892, the band went up Pike's Peak, where they
played " God Save the Queen." While in Denver the band gave a complimentary concert to the Canadian Maple Leaf Club of Denver. A number of
national airs were played, and the large audience was most enthusiastic.
In Chicago the band is well established in the favor of the people, for every
ti me the commandery trips have been taken in past years there have been grand
local concerts arranged for, and thousands of Chicago residents have sat,
listened to and appreciated the concert numbers of the famous Hamilton organization. The Band accompanied the St. Bernard Commandery to Boston on
its visit to that city in 1895. In the parade there were 22,000 Knights and 164
bands, but the Thirteenth Band, as usual, received its full measure of approbation from the spectators.
At various times the band has been engaged by the Grand Trunk Railway
to assist at the opening of their different lines. Among other events of this
character they were at the openings of the St. Clair Tunnel at Sarnia in 1890
and the new Suspension Bridge over the Niagara River in 1897.
On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of Bandmaster Robinson's
leadership of the band, November 2nd, 1898, a complimentary benefit concert
was tendered him, and an audience of over 2,000 people crowded the Drill Hall.
During the evening a gold watch, suitably inscribed with the crest of the corps,
was presented to him, a gift from the officers of the corps. The presentation
was made by Mrs. McLaren.
-

76