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| 'Sons of the Brave' A march by: Thomas Bidgood [1] |
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In 1898 Thomas Bidgood (1858-1925) composed the well-known march Sons of the Brave. This became hugely popular during the Boer War and its ready acceptance by the public and military alike established Bidgood as a popular composer of military music. Although other marches followed, including Knight Errant (1901); The Lads in Navy Blue, Merry Soldiers, and Silent Heroes (1909); The British Legion and A Call to Arms (1912); My Old Kentucky Home and On to Victory (1917) and Vimy Ridge (1921) to name a few, Bidgood’s compositions were not restricted to military marches. During his highly productive life he composed a wide range of compositions, including dances and orchestral works such as the intermezzo Honoraria and A Motor Ride. Despite this large body of musical compositions, Bidgood remains best known for his march Sons of the Brave. Given the fame of this stirring melody as well as the close association of 'Sons of the Brave' with the Duke of York's, it is not surprising that Bidgood’s name should become strongly linked to the School. Over the years writers of anthologies have mistakenly assumed that Thomas Bidgood was a student or pupil of the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. For example, the following entry in one record on the Bidgood family states: |
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| Thomas BIDGOOD b.1860 in Woolwich, S London - d.1925 Education: Duke of York's Royal Military School in Chelsea, London Conservatory of Music Occupation: Professor of Music at London |
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Recent inquiries through Peter Goble, who analyzed the RMA admissions registers, have led to an investigation that has revealed the truth of Thomas Bidgood"s history and early life. They also leave open the intriguing question how the composer chose 'Sons of the Brave' as the name of his most famous composition. In response to an inquiry, a correspondent reported that "Mr Spreadbury [2] was emphatic that in the School's 200-year history there had only been one pupil named Bidgood." Perhaps so, but this was no proof that Bidgood had not been at the School, either at Dover or in the Chelsea establishment when it was in existence. He could have been, for instance, a member of the School staff or, possibly, a teacher-student in training during the time the RMA was a 'Normal School' for the training of army schoolmaster sergeants. In the case of either possibility, his name might have appeared on the census returns for 1881, 1891 or even 1901. In a report of his search for the presence of a Bidgood at the School, either at Chelsea or Dover, Peter Goble states: |
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Bill Spreadbury's knowledge of the history of the RMA-DYRMS was legendary, and I concur that Thomas BIDGOOD was not a student at the RMA. I have made an intensive study of the RMA Ledger WO143-18 - Male admissions to the RMA 19 August 1803 to 20 August 1880 - transcribing the records to a fully searchable Access Database. If one accepts the detail given in the 1901 Census with Thomas being 41, then his birth year will be 1860. At that time, students were admitted between the ages of 5 and 11. Thomas BIDGOOD should therefore have been at the RMA in 1865 at the earliest and in 1871 at the latest, being due for discharge in 1874/5, which means he would have appeared in the 1871 census. From a thorough check of the admissions ledger and a separate check of the 1871 census there is no evidence that a BIDGOOD was at the RMA. Further, prerequisites for admission to the RMA were that the father was either a serving soldier or the child was an orphan of a regular soldier or the father had served a minimum of four years in the army. The father of Thomas BIDGOOD, the composer of the march 'Sons of the Brave', was a Plumber, so the Thomas BIDGOOD in question had no entitlement to be admitted as a pupil of the RMA Student schoolmasters were included in the census after 1851. Of these, some were serving soldiers and others civilian. As these lived in barracks, the only other possibility would be that Thomas BIDGOOD lived out and attended daily. That possibility, however, was most unlikely. |
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| Linda Rhodes, local studies librarian of the Barking and Dagenham Local Studies Centre, has provided a reliable biographical note on Thomas Bidgood the composer: on which the following is based. |
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| Thomas Bidgood(1858-1925), born in Woolwich, Kent, the son of William John Bidgood, a master plumber, and his wife Jane, nee Williams. In his youth, Thomas Bidgood sang in the choir of St. John's Church. He studied the violin under the tutelage of Signor Erba at the London Academy of Music. As a boy, he attended concerts given by the band of the Royal Artillery, as a result of which he studied various wind instruments. He joined the band of the 9th Kent Artillery Volunteers in which he played the althorn and E flat bass. Later, he became bandmaster of the Beckton Band of the Gas, Light and Coke Company. (He was an employee of the Becton Gasworks.) Later still, he served as the bandmaster of several bands in the east of London.[3] |
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Peter Goble, a knowledgeable authority on the RMA admissions registers and census data, affirms that there is no direct evidence to connect Thomas Bidgood directly to the RMA or the Duke of York’s School. There is, however, compelling indirect evidence of a connection. That is, his naming his first march Sons of the Brave is clear evidence that Bidgood knew of the School, probably through the many Dukies who satisfied the London market for accomplished musicians. He must obviously have known of or even seen Phil Morris’s evocative painting of the same name, the Sons of the Brave painting in possession of the School. It is reasonable to suppose that the Morris painting inspired Bidgood to compose the march in the first place. Alternatively, he may first have written the march and then found a suitable title for it in Morris’s magnificent painting. |
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Footnotes |
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| [1] This article was written based on the research provided by Peter Goble who analyzed the RMA admissions registers and produced the CD of RMA data. The excellent groundwork of Don Bidgood on his '"one-name study of the name Bidgood and its variants' is also recognized. Back to 1 [2] In 1998, the Bursar was Lt Col. W (Bill) Spreadbury, himself an ex-Dukie, who had a prodigious knowledge of the School and its early history. Back to 2 [3]Acknowledgement is here given to Andrew Lamb, an authority on European light music who operates an extensive web site (now not on-line) on the subject Thomas Bidgood listed compositions. Back to 3 |
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