History - Yorkshire Volunteers Band

The Yorkshire Volunteers Band

Leeds Rifles Origins (1860)

Our story begins in 1860, with the band of the 7th Yorkshire West Riding Rifles Volunteer Corps, better known as the Leeds Rifles. In keeping with the Rifle Brigades, the band wore rifle green uniforms.

In 1887 the Leeds Rifles became a battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment, and the regimental march changed from The Huntsman to Ça Ira, a tune the 14th of Foot famously took from the French at the Battle of Famars in 1793.

Black and white group photograph of around twenty Leeds Rifles soldiers in First World War service dress and peaked caps, several wearing Red Cross armbands, posed beside a barn with Red Cross field boxes in front of them — Men of the Leeds Rifles, 1916

Bligny and the Croix de Guerre (1918)

Some 2,050 members of the Leeds Rifles died on active service in France and Flanders between 1915 and 1918. In July 1918 the 8th Battalion West Yorkshire Regiment (Leeds Rifles) captured the Montagne de Bligny, holding it against a larger enemy force despite heavy losses. For this the battalion was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, and its ribbon was worn on the uniform of every Leeds Rifleman from then on.

We still remember them every July at Bligny Sunday in Leeds.

Sepia photograph of a uniformed military band of around forty musicians with clarinets, cornets, saxophones, euphoniums and a bass drum, seated and standing in rows in front of a large white camp tent, with officers in khaki seated in the centre — The band of the Leeds Rifles

Tanks, Alamein and the Maple Leaf (1939–1945)

In the late 1930s the 7th Battalion Leeds Rifles converted to armour, expanding into the 45th and 51st (Leeds Rifles) Royal Tank Regiments. The 45th fought with distinction at El Alamein. The 51st served in North Africa and then Italy, where its support for the Canadians at the Hitler Line earned it the Canadian Maple Leaf, an emblem still worn as part of regimental dress.

The Yorkshire Volunteers (1967 Onwards)

In 1967 the 1st Battalion Yorkshire Volunteers was formed from the Territorial Army battalions of Yorkshire, and the band became The Yorkshire Brigade Band TAVR, in No.1 dress blues. In 1969 it was renamed the Regimental Band Yorkshire Volunteers (Leeds Rifles).

The band later became simply The Yorkshire Volunteers Band, adopting the scarlet tunic of the infantry bands and Ilka Moor as its regimental march. Following the Strategic Defence Review of 1998, it joined the Yorkshire Volunteers Regimental Association, carrying the tradition forward into its second century and a half.

On the International Stage

The band has built an excellent reputation at home and abroad, performing in Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. Invitations have even come from Hong Kong and China. Maybe one day!

The Corps of Drums

A Corps Reborn

The original Yorkshire Volunteers Corps of Drums disbanded in the early 1990s. Its revival began in September 2001, when drummers from the Royal Artillery Association Corps of Drums supported the band at the Aventicum Musical Parade in Avenches, Switzerland. After the finale, Drum Sgt David Barlow was invited to join the band as its solo marching side drummer.

In late 2004 he was asked to assemble a front line of drummers for the band's visit to Stuttgart in February 2005. Four experienced side drummers answered the call, and the Corps has grown ever since. It now numbers 12 drummers, including 4 buglers, with ex-military personnel among them and every member bringing years of experience from corps of drums across the UK.

On Parade

Dressed in Victorian scarlet Corps of Drums tunics and Home Service helmets, the Corps heads the band on every parade and marching engagement, and performs drumming displays, Victory Beatings and Black Light shows.

Painted side drum emblazoning on a rifle green background: a crowned Yorkshire Volunteers badge with a white rose in a laurel wreath, flanked by ten red and gold scrolls listing the regiment's titles from 7th Bn. Yorkshire Volunteers (Leeds Rifles) 1860 to Yorkshire Volunteers Band 1999, above a Croix de Guerre ribbon, a red Canadian maple leaf and a Corps of Drums scroll — The Yorkshire Volunteers Corps of Drums emblazoning

The Drum Emblazoning

Our side drums carry the original Rifle Green background of the Leeds Rifles rather than the standard dark blue. Military drums traditionally display a regiment's battle honours, but as a civilian band we cannot reproduce them. Instead, ten scrolls trace the regiment's lineage, from the Leeds Rifles in 1860 to the formation of the current band in 1999.

At the centre is the Yorkshire Volunteers badge, matching the helmet plate worn by the Corps. Beneath it sit two emblems from the story above: the ribbon of the Croix de Guerre, won at Bligny in 1918, and the Canadian Maple Leaf, earned in Italy during the Second World War.

History of the Band