Military Bands were established to provide music to keep the step, or cadence, at measured pace, and to lift the spirits. Whilst the 91st had pipes from the outset it took a few years to establish a band.  The 93rd had pipes and a band from the start.  General William Wemyss, who raised the 93rd in 1799, had a reputation for furnishing his units with brass instruments.  A 'Jingling Johnny' bearing his initials WW, passed from the 3rd Sutherland Fencibles to the 93rd, and this instrument is still in the Regiment's possession.

During the war against Napoleon, British bands were in the battle line cheering the soldiers on to victory.  After Waterloo, regimental histories were compiled, battle honours were blazoned anew, and traditional army customs were revived, all of which helped to foster esprit de corps.  Regiments vied with each other in asserting their privileges in these matters, and music, which played so large a part in most of these dignities, added a colourful glamour which attracted the general public.

In the Crimean War, the bandsmen were turned into the ranks as stretcher-bearers for the ambulance:

"Now, men, you are going into action.  Remember this: whoever is wounded... must lie where he falls until the bandsmen come to attend him..." Sir Colin Campbell to the Highland Brigade, Alma 1854

After the Crimean War the Duke of Cambridge, Commander in Chief, brought all regimental bands under War Office control.  He abolished civilian and foreign bandmasters, and established the [Royal] Military School of Music at Kneller Hall for the express purpose of training bandmasters and bandsmen for the British Army.  A standard pitch was adopted throughout the army.

The larger Staff bands were established under directors of music, and the infantry battalion bands were established under bandmasters.  The bands' music kept the step and relieved the boredom of long route marches.  Before the advent of modern media entertainment, musical concerts were widely popular, and the bands entertained the troops and the general public.  Since those days, military bands have been through their evolutions, reflecting the size of the Army as a whole.  Recent reorganizations have seen the merging of the small infantry battalion bands into one or more bands per division of infantry.

It is perhaps not easy for new generations to appreciate the value of a battalion band.  Nowadays there is no daily exposure to military band music; indeed it requires a special occasion to gain the services of a band at all.  Until the 1990s, in peace and on many operations, our Band was an integral part of battalion life, part of the family.  The Band not only kept the step, it did indeed lift the spirits, and we honour their passing.