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Musicians in battle: pictures of the brave and the bold
In the olden days, if you played a drum, fife, bagpipes or bugle, the likelihood was you'd find yourself in the line of fire. Mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo with our gallery of some of the most heroic musicians ever.
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1. The Battle of Waterloo, 18 June 1815
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium. Napoleon’s French army was defeated by an Anglo-allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army. Cavalry formations were controlled by some 40 different bugle calls, known to the cavalrymen and made easier to remember by the addition of words.
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2. The bugle that sounded the charge, Battle of Waterloo, 1815
This very bugle sounded the charge of The Household Cavalry at Waterloo. It was blown by 16-year-old, 4-foot tall, John Edwards, duty trumpeter of the day. The buglers were often targetted by the enemy, keen to thwart their opponent's strategy.
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3. The battle for the true cross, 615 AD
He looks like he's been up all night - but this trumpeter has a job to do. His boss Heraclitus is taking on the Persian King, to get back the stolen wood of Christ's cross. Renaissance giant Piero della Francesca (1415-1492) captured this brave brass player in action.
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4. The Battle of Bunker Hill, American War of Independence, 1775
These British drummers stayed wisely near the back at one of this War's early battles - unlike their mate who can be seen felled in the centre. The British took the ground but lost 226 men, including 34 commissioned officers. Painting by Howard Pyle (1853-1911).
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5. The death of Joseph Bara, French Revolution, 1793
During the French Revolution, this famous 13-year-old attached himself as a drummer to a unit fighting pro-Royalist counter revolutionaries. He died protecting the two horses he was leading and became a martyr-hero, immortalised here by Moreau-Vauthier (1857-1924).
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6. Operation Epsom, Normandy, Second World War, 1944
The camouflage could have worked somewhat but the bagpipes were a give-away to tell the enemy you're there. Here, led by their piper, men of 7th Seaforth Highlanders, 15th (Scottish) Division advance during Operation 'Epsom' during the Battle of Normandy, 26 June 1944.
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7. Bugler vs. the Boers, the Boer War, 1889
Buglers as young as 12 became valued members of the British army, sounding the calls that moved men about the battlefield and the camp. Two days into the war, during the second Battle of Elandslaagte on 21 October 1889, bugle boy John Shurlock joined the chase against the fleeing Boers, shooting three of them. He became a hero of the British campaign.
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8. Drummer Boy, Battle of Balaclava, 1854
Painted in 1854 by Richard Buckner (1812-1883), this drummer boy saw action in the Crimean War’s Siege of Sevastopol, in which the British and French made efforts to capture the port and fortress at Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. It all culminated in the ill-fated Charge of the Light Brigade.
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9. Battle for Magdala, 1868
This bugler seems to be nonchalantly surveying the carnage as 6,000 Abyssinian troops advanced on the Empire forces who’d been sent to rescue a group of missionaries. The British won - but with little help from this musician.
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10. The Battle of the Somme, First World War, 1916
This piper is trying to keep up the spirits of his weary comrades at the Battle of Bazentin Ridge, launched by the British Fourth Army at dawn on 14 July 1916. It marked the start of the second phase of the Battle of the Somme and turned out to be more successful to the disastrous first day of the action.
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11. The Spirit of '76, American Revolutionary War, 1776
Fifes have been used by armies since the 16th century to keep marching men motivated with favourite tunes from home. Painter Archibald MacNeal Willard (1836–1918) was inspired to create this after he saw a parade pass through his town square. He used his father as the model for the middle man.
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12. The Battle of Solferino, 1859
This bugler is getting stuck right in to the 300,000-man battle as the French and Sardinian armies take on the Austrians. It was the last major battle in history where the armies were under the personal command of their monarchs. Obviously the bugler was keen to impress.
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13. The Doof Warrior in Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015
Coming bang up to date, the Doof Warrior is a blind guitarist, who rides and plays upon the Doof Wagon - naturally - during the high octane battle scenes in Mad Max: Fury Road. He is played by Australian musician iOTA and, spoiler alert, doesn't fare too well.
