The King's Birthday Parade of 1919 was held in Hyde Park due to huts having been erected on Horse Guards Parade, with all troops other than the bands wearing khaki. The parade was unique in that there were eleven Guards found from the six regiments that then formed the Brigade of Guards. These included the Guards Machine Gun Regiment, who marched past in slow time to Mandalay (with the Soldiers' Chorus from Faust being played for the march past in quick time).
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Major Charles Franklin was born in 1861 and joined the Band of the 2nd Bn. Royal Munster Fusiliers at the age of 14. The battalion formed part of a force engaged in the campaign in Burma from 1885-87 and the names of those who died at Myingyan are recorded on the Memorial at Mandalay Cantonment Cemetery. Franklin was appointed Bandmaster of 1st Bn. The Royal Irish Rifles in 1890. Four years later he was selected by Lord Kitchener to become Bandmaster to the Egyptian Army and in 1901 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant (as the native bandmasters all held commissioned rank). He returned to England in 1907 to become Musical Director of the Royal Naval School of Music at Eastney where he served until his death in 1919, following an operation
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© Band of Coldstream Guards
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We have made this song for music education purpose only. There is no purpose in trading, just how.