The works brass band – a historical directory of the industrial and corporate patronage and sponsorship of brass bands Gavin Holman, January 2020 Preston Corporation Tramways Band, c. 1910 From the earliest days of brass bands in the British Isles, they have been supported at various times and to differing extents by businesses and their owners. In some cases this support has been purely philanthropic, but there was usually a quid pro quo involved where the sponsor received benefits – e.g. advertising, income from band engagements, entertainment for business events, a “worthwhile” pastime for their employees, corporate public relations and brand awareness - who would have heard of John Foster’s Mills outside of the Bradford area if it wasn’t for the Black Dyke Band? One major sponsor and supporter of brass bands, particularly in the second half of the 19th century, was the British Army, through the Volunteer movement, with upwards of 500 bands being associated with the Volunteers at some time – a more accurate estimate of these numbers awaits some further analysis. However, I exclude these bands from this paper, to concentrate on the commercial bodies that supported brass bands. I am also excluding social, civic, religious, educational and political organisations’ sponsorship or support. In some cases it is difficult to determine whether a band, composed of workers from a particular company or industry was supported by the business or not. The “workmen’s band” was often a separate entity, supported by a local trade union or other organisation. For the purposes of this review I will be including them unless there is specific reference to a trade union or other social organisation. 1 Similarly where a band is named Messrs X (or X and Y) Band, this usually indicates an association with the business company of Messrs X (or X and Y). However, in the early years of brass bands they were often named after their founders or leaders. Bands from the 1850s and 1860s are particularly tricky in this regard. I have included such bands where there is no obvious corporate connection - where the company cannot (yet) be identified – and marked them as “unknown” in terms of their type of sponsor. Those with clear “leader” designations have been excluded from this list. I have also excluded the “professional” brass bands, active in the 19th century, which supported travelling shows, circuses, theatres, waxworks and other places of entertainment with their performances. Of the nearly 20,000 brass bands that have existed in the British Isles over the last 200 years, I have identified some 2,200 that were directly supported or sponsored by businesses and industry. Some have had multiple sponsors, occasionally in different areas of commerce or manufacturing. These are listed below, extracted from my earlier “Brass Bands of the British Isles – a historical directory” (January 2019) – available from gavinholman.academia.edu/research. By far the largest category is that of the colliery bands (537), followed by those related to the railways (244), then iron & steel manufacture (187). The categorisation of the industries and business types is arbitrary, and in quite a few cases there is doubt as to the actual “best fit” category. Many bands not listed here will have had “hidden” support – i.e. patronage from a corporate sponsor that is not recorded in their available histories or referred to in the band’s name. I am sure there will be a number of others that have been missed from this listing for one reason or another! Nonetheless it does give a good picture of the overall level and breadth of such corporate support. Where bands have had multiple sponsors of different industry/business category, they appear under each. Cross references for alternate/previous names of bands are also given. 2 Bands supported by categories of industry & business • Chemical & plastics industries [24] • Metals manufacturing and working • Communications & electronics [7] [71] • Energy industries [2] • Brass & copper [1] • Electric [2] • Iron & steel [187] • Gas [36] • Lead [3] • Oil [5] • Tin & zinc [11] • Fabrics manufacture [5] • Mining • Bleaching [5] • Coal [537] • Lace [1] • Iron, tin, lead, clay and other • Linen [13] minerals [13] • Clothing/garment production [33] • Quarrying, stone & construction • Cotton [43] materials [20] • Dyeing [7] • Property & construction [35] • Silk [4] • Publishing & printing [26] • Tanning [12] • Retail • Wool [47] • Co-operative [37] • Financial services [10] • Other retail [10] • Food and drink products • Service industries • Brewing [37] • Firemen [36] • Distilling [1] • General services [12] • Other drinks [4] • Health services [3] • Foodstuffs [26] • Police [89] • General manufacturing & engineering • Postal & telegraph workers [56] [4] • Prisons [2] • Armaments [11] • Transport • Bicycles [5] • Air transport & manufacture [14] • Candles [3] • Public transport – Buses & trams • Engineering [94] [51] • Glass & bottles [18] • Railway transport & manufacture • Musical instruments [8] [244] • Paper [18] • Road transport, manufacture & • Pottery [12] logistics [30] • Rope [6] • Sea transport & manufacture [41] • Soap [7] • Water & sewage [5] • Tobacco [6] • Workmen’s – general [102] • Other household goods [31] • Miscellaneous [4] • Unknown [56] 3 Contents Chemical & plastics industries ............................................ 6 Communications & electronics ........................................... 9 Energy industries ............................................................... 11 Energy - electric .................................................................. 11 Energy - gas ....................................................................... 12 Energy - oil ........................................................................ 17 Fabrics manufacturing ...................................................... 18 Fabrics - bleaching ............................................................ 18 Fabrics – clothing production ........................................... 19 Fabrics - cotton .................................................................. 24 Fabrics - dyeing ................................................................. 29 Fabrics - lace ...................................................................... 29 Fabrics - linen .................................................................... 30 Fabrics - silk ...................................................................... 31 Fabrics - tanning ............................................................... 32 Fabrics - wool .................................................................... 34 Financial services .............................................................. 42 Food & drink - brewing ..................................................... 43 Food & drink – other drinks ............................................. 49 Food & drink - foodstuffs .................................................. 50 General manufacturing & engineering ............................. 55 Manufacturing - armaments ............................................. 57 Manufacturing - bicycles ................................................... 59 Manufacturing - candles ................................................... 60 Manufacturing - engineering ............................................ 61 Manufacturing – glass & bottles ....................................... 74 Manufacturing – musical instruments ............................. 76 Manufacturing - paper ...................................................... 77 Manufacturing - pottery .................................................... 81 Manufacturing - rope ........................................................ 83 Manufacturing - soap ........................................................ 85 4 Manufacturing - tobacco ................................................... 86 Manufacturing – other household goods .......................... 87 Metals manufacturing & working ..................................... 92 Metal working – brass & copper ....................................... 99 Metal working – iron & steel ........................................... 100 Metal working – lead ....................................................... 123 Metal working – tin & zinc .............................................. 123 Mining - coal .................................................................... 125 Mining – iron, tin, lead, clay & other materials .............. 184 Quarrying, stone & construction materials ..................... 186 Property & construction .................................................. 189 Publishing & printing ...................................................... 195 Retail – co-operative ....................................................... 199 Retail - other ................................................................... 204 Service industries – fire service ..................................... 206 Service industries – general services .............................. 210 Service industries - health ................................................ 211 Service industries - police ............................................... 213 Service industries – postal & telegraph .......................... 221 Service industries - prisons ............................................. 226 Transport - air ................................................................. 228 Transport – buses & trams .............................................. 230 Transport - railway .........................................................