1700

First Nations (including Brass Bands)

Year

Great Britain Brass Bands

Russians begin trading on BC coast

1740

Danish explorer Vitus Bering explores the BC coast

1741

Royal Proclamation of King George III recognizes aboriginal title and rights to land

1763

1770s Captain Cook explores the West Coast

1770s

Spanish explorer Juan Perez sights Queen Charlotte Islands and visits off Vancouver Island

1774-9

Juan Francisco de Bodega y Quadra penetrates close to the Nass River

1775

Small pox epidemic

1776

Captain Cook charts Nootka Sound on his third expedition to the Pacific

1778

Maritime trading voyages begin along Pacific coast (to 1820s)

1785

Captain George Dixon meets Haida and names the Queen Charlotte Islands

1787

Alaska is claimed as Russian territory

1788

Spanish build fort in Nootka Sound

1789

Nootka convention between Spain and Britain

1790

Captain George Vancouver charts most of Georgia Straight

1792

Alexander Mackenzie reaches Pacific in first overland crossing of North America

1793

Epidemics appear on the Pacific Northwest coast

1780s

1800

Maquinna’a people attack and kill most of the crew of the Boston

1803

Fort Simpson established by Northwest Company

1804

Fort Nelson established on Liard River

1805

David Thompson visits the Kutenai. Kutenai House established

1807

Simon Fraser explores Fraser River and meets Indians at Lytton

1808

1810

Invention of the Keyed bugle, which remains popular until the 1840’s.

1810's

In the early 1810’s many village bands are formed. These bands are frequently created from military or church bands and consist of 10 to 12 players. Military and church bands were primarily composed of clarinets, oboes, bass viols, flutes, bassoons and French Horns. Amateur village bands include clarinets, ophicleides, serpents, valveless trumpets and horns, and keyed bugles. Oboes and bassoons are generally absent from village/amateur bands probably due to the difficulty in learning to play. In the post-Napoleonic wars era there is a proliferation of all manner of musical groups including wind bands, volunteer bands, drum and fife bands, and brass and reed bands.

David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Columbia River
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The ship Tonquin is captured and the crew killed in the Clayoquot area

1811

Astorian and Northwest Company establish posts in Kamloops

1812

1814

Valve invented by Heinrich Stolzel and Friedrich Blühmel. Initially applied to trumpets and horns.

1816

Peter Wharton forms a village band in Queensbury. This band was to become Black Dyke.

1817

Invention of the ophicleide

1818

Cotton manufacturers the Clegg brothers (John, Joseph and James) form Clegg’s Reed Band in the village Besses o’ th’ Barn (north of Manchester). Instrumentation included 3 clarinets, one piccolo, one keyed bugle, one trumpet, two French Horns, one trombone, two bass horns and a bass drum.

Permanent HBC post established at Fort George

1820

Ballroom dances become popular, with the music being played throughout the century. Ballroom dance music includes waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and gallops.
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By 1820, the players in village bands are mainly drawn from the artisan class – iron founders, wool and cotton mill hands, leather workers and colliers.

Northwest Company and Hudson’s Bay Company merge, known as HBC

1821

Fatal epidemic (cause unidentified) in Columbia River drainage (to 1825)

1824

Fort Vancouver established by HBC on Columbia River

1826

Fort Langley established

1827

Clallum village shelled by HBC gunboat

1828

First versions of the cornet are manufactured, using valves instead of keys. In France it was known as the cornet-à-pistons and in Britain as the cornopean.

Reverend Jonathan Smith Green (Protestant) tours Northwest coast

1829

First Chilcotin post established by HBC

1830

HBC begins innoculating Native people against small pox

1830s

Fort Simpson built on Nass River then moved to Tsimshian Peninsula

1831

1832

Blaina in south Wales is the first village band to convert to all brass instrumentation
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Three valve system becomes standard

1833

First English brass band formed in York. At 24 players it is larger than most village bands. Instrumentation includes cornopeans, French Horns, trumpets, trombones, and ophicleides.

HBC Chaplain and missionary Reverend Herbert Beaven arrives at Fort Vancouver
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Small pox epidemic in northern BC and southern Alaskan coast (to 1838)

1836

The term brass band becomes accepted term in describing a recognizable type of ensemble.
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Eight Popular Airs arranged by George MacFarlane of R. Cocks and Company is the first published brass band music. Arrangement is for three keyed bugles, 2 trumpets, 2 horns, three trombones and one serpent.

1837

Distin Family Quintet (father John and four sons) begin their performing career playing slide trumpet, three horns and a trombone. This instrumentation changed to slide trumpet, cornet, keyed bugle, French horn and trombone until they changed to saxhorns in 1844.

First Roman Catholic priests arrive at Fort Vancouver (F. Blanchet and M. Demers)

1838

Founding of the Cyfarthfa Band in Merthyr Tydfyl, Wales, by Robert Crawshay, master of an ironworks. Ironworks provides the bandsmen with jobs and pays the expenses of the band.
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First promenade concert organized by Philippe Musard, who brought this form of enterainment from Paris. The objective of these concerts was to entertain people who did not patronize the opera or more serious concerts. They were designed to be more affordable and catered to Parisians who strolled the boulevards and gardens.

There were two seasons of concerts: concerts d’été (held outdoors) and concerts d’hiver (held indoors). Included in the program would be overtures, operatic selections, quadrilles, waltzes and gallops, and solos. Solos were often performed on the new cornet-à-pistons and the ophicleide. When these promenade concerts moved to London both the summer and winter concerts were held indoors.

James Douglas becomes Chief Factor of HBC

1839

Jesuit Priest Father Pierre De Smet is in Kootenays and Okanagan
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Father John Nobilis active in northern New Caledonia

1840s

Louis Jullien takes over the promenade concerts from Philippe Musard. A larger-than-life character, Jullien could attract audiences like no other performer of his time. His performances included large ensembles, sometimes as many as 300 performers, and soloists demonstrating spectacular virtuosity. One performance included the playing of 'Suona la Tromba' from Bellini’s I Puritani, on twenty cornets, twenty trumpets, twenty trombones, twenty ophicleides and twenty serpents.

In 1852 Jean Baptiste Arban was a featured performer, joining Hermann Koenig, a cornet virtuoso famous for the Post Horn Galop, who had been with Jullien since at least 1844.
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Keyed bugles are gradually replaced with cornets

Fort Victoria established by HBC
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Father Demers active in New Caledonia

1842

1843

First appearance of the euphonium
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Adolphe Sax patents his new range of instruments as saxhorns

1844

Distin Family Quintet visits Sax in his workshop, whereupon Sax provides them with a matched set of instruments and tuition. The Distin Quintet adopts the saxhorn instruments.
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The Distin family is featured at one of Jullien’s concerts, playing saxhorns. This is followed by several years of touring which has the effect of promoting the saxhorn family of instruments.
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Henry Distin becomes the British agent for Sax, but this arrangement is severed in 1850 when Distin begins making his own instruments.

1845

Invention of the large BBb 'contrabass' or 'monstre' tuba, arriving in England ~1850. Slow uptake by brass bands
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Burton Constable Contest held as part of a fete at Burton Constable, an estate owned by Sir Clifford Constable, near Hull. Bands were limited to a maximum of 12 players. Five bands competed with a variety of instruments including cornopeans, tenor saxhorns, trombones, bass saxhorns, ophicleides, soprano cornets, French horns (valved), serpents, and valved tubas.

Oregon Treaty establishes 49th parallel as US-British boundary

1846

George Hogarth publishes in his weekly newspaper ‘Musical Herald’ an article describing the effects of music on the working classes (so called ‘rational recreation’). 'The tendency of music is to soften and purify the mind…the cultivation of musical taste furnishes for the rich a refined and intellectual pursuit…(and for the working classes) a relaxation from toil more attractive than the haunts of intemperance…'

Measles epidemic (to 1850)

1847

Royal Charter grants Vancouver Island to the HBC

1849

Measles epidemic spreads from coast to interior

1850

W. H. Wills writes the article ‘Music in Humble Life’ for the journal Household Words. In describing the players of the Cyfarthfa band, Wills goes on to say ‘(Mr. Crawshay – owner of the ironworks) has provided a rational and refined amusement for classes whose leisure time would have been less creditably spent than in learning or listening to music. The habits of these men appear to have been decidedly improved by these softening influences…’

OMI Bishop Pierre Paul Durieu comes to the Northwest coast

1850s

There are from 1250 to 1500 street musicians in London, helping to popularize music. Street musicians played marches, dances and hymn tunes, operatic songs, overtures and extracts from oratorios. Street musicians included English and German bands, hurdy-gurdies, fiddlers, bell ringers, Irish and Scottish pipers, concertinas, barrel organs and harps.
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Concert halls start to appear, as do bandstands and resort and spa orchestras.
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The valve is established; brass bands begin to flourish. Reasons include:

• Relatively cheap instruments
• Durable instruments, well-suited to playing outdoors
• 3-valve system was easy to learn
• Lent themselves to the rough hands of working men
• Identical fingering for all instruments, allowing players to move to different instruments
• Masculine sound appealed to working class men

Royal Navy destroys Newitti Village

1850-1

Douglas becomes Governor but remains Chief Factor of the HBC (to 1858)
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Gold found on Queen Charlotte Islands.
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Gunboats sent to Queen Charlotte Islands

1851

Cowichan crisis. Gunboat dispatched

1852-3

Boosey publishes its first Brass Band Journal.

1853

First British Open Brass Band Championships. Won by 10-member Mossley Temperance Saxhorn Band playing all saxhorns. Rules stipulated bands must have no less than 10 and no more than 18 players. Contest continues, with the exception 1859, until the present day. 16,000 spectators attend the first contest to hear the 8 competing bands. The victory of Mossley and their all saxhorn instruments gives tremendous momentum to the change to all brass saxhorn-based bands.

Douglas becomes Governor but remains Chief Factor of the HBC (to 1858)

1851

James Douglas becomes Lieutenant-Governor of the Queen Charlotte Islands

1852

1855

Black Dyke band formed when John Foster, mill owner, takes over the Queenshead Band (formerly Wharton’s Reed Band) which had become an all brass band. Black Dyke is now a works-sponsored band, with the players working for the mill and the mill covering the expense of maintaining the band (uniforms, instruments, tutors).
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Saltaire Band formed, an example of a subscription band. Subscription bands were developed with support from a wider community, such as a mechanics institute or temperance society, as opposed to a single source like a factory.

1855

Large band contest held in the Zoological Gardens, Hull, with 12 bands competing. Bands range in size from 11 to 17 players. Smith's Leeds Band wins the competition.

Anglican missionary William Duncan arrives in Victoria
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Anglicans establish Indian school at Fort Simpson
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Methodists establish Indian school in Nanaimo

1857

Champion Brass Band Journal publishing House is founded by Richard Smith, becoming known as R. Smith and Company.
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Henry Distin publishing music for brass bands with between 10 and 24 players, with a recommendation of 17.

British Columbia Act. New Caledonia becomes Colony of British Columbia
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James Douglas resigns from HBC; becomes Governor of Colony of BC
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Royal Engineers undertake mapping of BC mainland
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Douglas reserves are laid out on BC mainland (to 1864) under Douglas’ policy
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Oblates of Mary Immaculate establish a centre at Esquimalt
Gunboats sent to New Caledonia (BC)
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Fraser River Gold Rush

1858

First Methodist missionaries at work in BC
Father Charles Pandosy (OMI) active in the Okanagan. Catholic mission established
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Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (Anglican) comes to BC
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Methodists E. Evans, A. Browning, E. Robson and E. White active in Victoria

1859

Anglicans establish Indian school near Victoria

1860

St. Mary’s Catholic mission established near Mission City (to 1984)
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Gold discovered in the Upper Peace River region
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Coqualeetza residential school established at Sardis (to 1940)

1861

Crystal Palace Competition (1860 to 1863), first major brass band contest in the south of England, is won by Black Dyke. Contest spans two days and attracts 29,000 spectators. At the end of each day there are massed band performances of all participants, amounting to some 1200 players. The sound created by the brass players drowns out the sound of the massive Crystal Palace organ.
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Bands still have brass clarinets and ophicleides, but keyed bugles, trumpets and French horns had almost disappeared.
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There are now 250 music halls in London and at least 300 in the provinces.

Metlakatla mission established (to 1887)
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Thomas Crosby (Protestant) active in Nanaimo
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Smallpox epidemic reduces aboriginal populations in BC (to 1863)
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Peak of the Cariboo Gold Rush
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Gold rush on Stikine

1862

Royal Engineers recalled to England; some individuals stay in BC
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St. Mary’s mission established by the Oblates

1863

Reverend Robert Doolan begins mission among the Nishga
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Governor Douglas retires
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Chilcotin Nation uprising against Bute Inlet wagon road building party. Manhunt follows
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Some members of the Chilcotin Nation tried and hanged for uprising deaths
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Formation of the St. Mary’s Mission brass band

1864

Fort Rupert village destroyed by HMS Clio

1865

Union of colonies of Vancouver Island and BC
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New Westminister becomes capital of new colony of BC

1866

St. Joseph’s mission established in Williams Lake
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Constitution Act: Canada responsible for Indians and lands reserved for Indians
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Barkerville post established by HBC
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Reverend Good establishes St. Paul’s mission in Lytton area
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Alaska is transferred to the US from Russia
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St. Mary's Mission Brass Band plays during the visit of Governor Seymour at New Westminster.

1867

Transcontinental railway link completed in American territory
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Omineca gold rush begins

1869

Economic depression in BC
Mission established at Cowichan

1870

1870s

Operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, along with Viennese and French operettas, become very popular.

British Columbia joins the Confederation of Canada
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Bella Bella post established by HBC at old Ft. Loughlin site
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Canning Industry begins with establishment of Fraser River Canneries
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Mission established at Sechelt
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Indian people not allowed to fish commercially (to 1923)
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Port Essington shipping and canning centre founded
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Bishop George Hills protests Indian policy to the Dominon
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Formation of the Metlakatla Brass Band.

1871

Reverend H. R. Haweis publishes a paper entitled 'Music and Morals' which is reprinted 21 times. The paper postulates that music can induce virtue.

Small pox epidemic in BC
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The right to vote in BC elections withdrawn from Indian people in BC (to 1949)

1872

Chappell begins publishing its Journal for Brass Band.

Methodist mission established at Fort Simpson.
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Metlakatla residential school established (to1908)
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Northwest Mounted Police formed
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Mission established at Fort St. James

1873

St. Eugene mission established at Cranbrook
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Crosby Girls Home in Port Simpson established (to 1948)

1874

1875

Wright and Round publish the Liverpool Brass Band Journal with the bulk of the publications designed for “average” bands. They also publish low-priced test pieces, thereby making them accessible to more bands and helping to spur the growth of contests.

Indian people excluded from voting in municipal elections
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Anglican mission estabished at Masset village
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Metlakatla Band performs during the visit of Governor-General Dufferin.

1876

Kimsquit (Bella Coola) village destroyed by Royal Navy gunboat
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St. Louis mission established near Kamloops
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Cannery industry established on the Skeena River

1877

Anglican Church establishes presence in Alert Bay

1878

Canning industry begins on the Skeena River
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Construction of BC portion of the CPR begins; contributes to increased immigration
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Formation of the Kincolith Brass Band

1880

Canneries established in the Nass River and Vancouver Island (East) Regions

1881

Brass Band News published monthly by Wright and Round.

Deacon Charles Harrison sent to Metlakatla

1882

All Hallow’s School for Girls established at Yale (to 1918)

1884

Changes to the Indian Act prohibit potlatching (to 1951)

1885

Formation of the Squamish Nation Brass Band

1886

Brass Bands participate in a number of great exhibitions, notably in Edinburgh, Manchester, Newcastle and Saltaire. Bands usually played for one week, with a contest on the final weekend (to 1893).

CPR reaches Vancouver
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William Duncan and many Tsimshian move from Metlakatla to Alaska
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First public performance of a Port Simpson brass band
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Formation of the Aiyansh Brass Band

1887

British Bandsman published weekly by Sam Cope

Boarding school for girls established at Alert Bay (to 1905)
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Small pox outbreak (to 1889)
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Two brass bands formed by the Catholic Sechelt Mission

1888

All hallows boarding school established at Yale (to 1918)

1889

Rules for British Open stipulate that only slide trombones are allowed.

Kuper Island Indian residential school established (to 1975)
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Small pox outbreak (to 1889)
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Kamloops Indian residential school established (to 1978)
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St. Joseph’s residential school opens in Williams Lake (to 1981)
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Six Catholic brass bands assemble for the opening services at Our Lady of the Rosary

1890

1890's

There are now over 200 brass band contests being staged every year in England, Wales and Scotland.
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Brass bands have reached their peak at this time, in terms of the number of bands and players. There now begins a gradual dwindling in numbers as people find other recreational pursuits.

Alberni day school (later residential school) established by Presbyterians
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St. Mary’s Mission Brass Band plays during the Mission Great Land Sale
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St. Mary’s Mission Brass Band plays for the opening ceremonies of the Bellingham-British Columbia Railway

1891

1892

Wright and Round publish the first of their Enterprise Band Books which are collections of 24 pieces from the Wright and Round catalogue, bound in booklet form by instrument, sold at very cheap prices.

Boarding school for girls established at Port Simpson (to 1920s)

1893

During the 1890s, musical comedy becomes popular. First major 'hit' is a production of 'A Gaiety Girl' in 1893.

Boarding school for girls established at Port Simpson (to 1920s)

1893

Day school established at Ahousat by Presbyterians

1895

Elizabeth Long Memorial Girls Home established in Kitamat village (to 1941)

1896

The Cornet published monthly by F. Richardson and Co.

St. Eugene’s residential school established in Cranbrook (to 1970)
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St. Francis/Squamish residential school established in North Vancouver (to 1959)

1898

1899

Royal Albert Hall brass band concert to support relatives of soldiers fighting in the Boer War. Sir Arthur Sullivan Conducts a massed band performance of “The Absent-minded Beggar”, music he had composed to the setting of a Kipling poem, and Onward Christian Soldiers.

1900

Christie/Kakawis residential school established (to 1983)
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The Prince of Wales Brass Band, one of the Port Simpson bands, reforms as a concert band and becomes known as Nelson’s Silver Cornet Band
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One of the Port Simpson bands wins the Dominion Day prize in Vancouver.

1900

First National Championships at the Crystal Palace in London. Contest continues to the present day, with exception of the war years.

St. George’s residential school established (to 1979)
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One of the Port Simpson bands performs for the duke and duchess of Cornwall and York (the future King George V and Queen Mary).

1901

1902

Rules for National Championships stipulate that only slide trombones are allowed.
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At this point the instrumentation, numbers of players and music has settled into the form that has carried through to the present day. Therefore, for the purposes of this timeline, this marks the last entry in Great Britain Brass Bands.

Boarding school established at Ahousaht (to 1907)
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Boarding school for boys established at Port Simpson (to 1920s)

1903

St. Louis World’s Fair. Indian people from BC participate

1904

St. Georges Industrial School for Boys established in Lytton
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Dominion Exhibition: competition of seven First Nations brass bands

1905

One of the Port Simpson bands perform during the visit to Vancouver of Governor-General Earl Grey.

1906

One of two bands formed in Skidegate

1907

Prince Rupert brass band contests (the Gray Cup) begin (to 1914)

1908

Boarding school established at Alberni (to 1920s)
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One of the Port Simpson bands perform at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.

1909

Lejac residential school established at Fraser Lake (to 1976)
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Port Simpson, Metlakatla, Kitkatla and possibly Kincolith bands perform during the visit of Sir Wilfrid Laurier to Prince Rupert

1910

First cannery built in the Queen Charlotte Islands

1911

Sechelt residential school established (to 1975)
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Port Simpson and other brass bands perform during the visit of the Duke of Connaught

1912

Duncan C. Scott makes it mandatory for Indian children (7-15 yrs) to attend school
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Alberni residential school established (to 1973)
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BC Indian population reaches lowest point

1920

Indian boarding schools become industrial and/or residential schools

1923

St. Michael’s residential school established in Alert Bay (to 1975)

1929

Provincial legislation establishes Indian people’s right to vote in provincial elections

1949

Federal voting rights extended to include Indian people

1960

Federal government takes direct control over Indian residential schools

1969

Christie residential school in Tofino, the last residential school, closes

1983

United Church of Canada first to apologize for treatment at residential schools
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Port Simpson Concert Band performs at Expo '86 in Vancouver

1986