Trombone History: A Soldier I Will Be

Recently added quite a few images to the trombone history timeline (19th century–1st half, 19th century–2nd half, 20th century) related to the trombone in the military. Here they are, below, along with their captions. As always, for sources, see the Trombone History Bibliography.

1804-1815—France: A military illustration labeled French Napoleonic Band depicts the foot grenadiers of the 1st Regimental Imperial Army Old Guard, including two trombonists marching with buccin-style instruments (trombones with dragon-head bells) (see above detail and full image; public domain) (Cassin-Scott and Fabb 15).

c. 1839—Fribourg, Switzerland: Musica militaris, a print depicting musicians of the boarding school of Fribourg, features a percussionist and a trombonist with a rear-facing bell (see above image; public domain) (Bovet and Curchod 28). For a similar image from Belgium, see 1831, above.

1840—France: A print depicting a Napoleonic military band includes what could be a buccin-style trombone (dragon-head bell) (see far left of above image; public domain) (Brenet 125). For a similar image, see 1804-1815, above.

1908—England: Military illustrator John McNeil (b. 1872) paints numerous military watercolors for Gale & Polden, including two that feature trombone: Highland Light Infantry (see upper image; Harrington 10) and Worcester Regiment (see above lower; Harrington 39) (images public domain).