1851—London, England

Author Charles Dickens, in his story “Our School,” describes a trombone-playing usher: “He was rather musical, and on some remote quarter-day had bought an old trombone; but a bit of it was lost, and it made the most extraordinary sounds when he sometimes tried to play it of an evening” (Lightwood 45).*

1851–Boston, Mass: A woodcut from Gleason’s Pictorial Magazine (August 9, 1851) depicts the Boston Brass Band, which utilizes exclusively over-the-shoulder brass instruments (including trombones; see left side of below image; click picture to expand) (public domain image).

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