The Boys' Band of Leamington Spa

The boys' expressions are impassively serious,
without the hint of a smile, grin, or even a smirk.

The way they hold their instruments is less rigid
revealing some individual attitudes
even while their faces declare
grim determination. 

Their stern humorless leader
casts more gloom
as if his heavy baton
is used for more
than just beating musical time.

This band of boys may not be a sad lot
but they are not happy lads.

They are an unknown brass band
from Royal Leamington Spa.

The full view of the band shows 26 boys, all with piston valve brass instruments except for two drummers and a rather sullen boy holding a large triangle. The band's instrumentation is typical for a British brass band in the late 1800s. The boys and their stout bandmaster wear quasi-military style uniforms with brimless pillbox caps, sometimes worn by military cadets. Two boys, the helicon players and the bass drummer, have turned a bit to show off a right sleeve stripe that marks them as having a superior rank. They are arranged on wooden bleachers in front of two-story buildings of stone masonry construction. At a rough guess the youngest is maybe age 8 and the oldest around 15-16. Most look between 12 and 14 years old.  

There is quite a lot of detail in this photograph considering that it is an tiny albumen print on a Carte de Visite mount only 2.5 in (64 mm) × 4 in (100 mm). The CdV was first introduced to Britain in 1860 and it became immensely popular with the public because the photos came in a lighter sepia tone with a true realistic likeness, a major improvement on the dark mirror image of the old daguerreotype. More importantly, though, was that the image was produced from a negative which allowed it to be easily reproduced. Generally the small size of the CdV made it best for portraits and and photos of large groups are less common. Landscapes were rare partly because of the print size and mainly because variable outdoor lighting made getting the correct exposure very challenging for photographers. A longer exposure meant human subjects had time to move which is why many early photos show people without smiles standing stiffly for the camera. The photographer of this boys' band obviously ordered the boys to not move a muscle. And they followed his directions to the letter.

The photographer was Charles R. Baker of 116 The Parade (opposite Regent Hotel) in Royal Leamington. It's known today as just Leamington, a modest city in Warwickshire, England named for the River Leam. But in the late 18th century some entrepreneurs developed the original small village into a large spa resort by promoting the medicinal properties of its local mineral waters. Queen Victoria first visited the spa in 1830 as Princess Victoria. She must have been impressed with the spa's beneficial qualities because after her coronation in 1838 she granted it the "Royal" prefix and it became, forever and ever after, Royal Leamington Spa.

The Parade is a half-mile street running north-south in the center of the old town that was purposefully built for high-end retail shops like Charles R. Baker's photography studio. Across the street was the Regent Hotel where Princess Victoria once stayed. It opened in August 1819 as the Williams Hotel but three weeks later was renamed for the Prince Regent (the future King George IV). Just like in our modern time, celebrity indorsements were important to establish a profitable brand. This high street catered to an elite clientele that paid attention to things like Royal Leamington Spa's heraldic coat of arms pictured on the back of the photograph. The motto "Sola bona quae honesta" means "Those things alone are good which are honourable"

Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England 2018
Source: Wikipedia

Charles Baker's name first shows up in Royal Leamington's city directory in 1880. Though it's possible he may have started work there earlier, he was not in the business directories of 1876 or 1872. His name is also in the 1881 census where he is listed as a bachelor, age 38, and employed as a Photographic Artist. The years correspond to the era when a Carte de Visite was still popular in Britain while Americans were choosing the larger cabinet card format.  

In the 19th century a photographer's studio served as the hub for their community's social network. But cameras and photographic methods were expensive and complicated. There were very few amateur photographers. Photographs was taken by appointment so in the 1880s a photo of a boys' band was produced for a special occasion. 

I do not know what this band called itself. The bass drum might have had its name, but British bands did not go in for that kind of advertising and anyway the drumhead is hidden. They are too numerous to be a family band and too young to be a military band. And I don't believe any schools in Britain in the 1880s had uniformed bands. But they might be a band from an orphanage or a workhouse. Both types of institutions managed bands or orchestra of their inmates, almost always boys, as a way to support and promote the asylums by giving public concerts. 

I've been unable to find an exact identification, but by combining search terms I did discover there was a connection between a boys' brass band and the photographer Charles R. Baker. 

The link was Sunday school. 

Leamington Gazette and
Warwick & Warwickshire Advertiser
9 August 1884

Beside being a photographer, Mr. Charles R. Baker was also the superintendent of one of two branches of the Leamington Boy's Mission. This church group had been founded in December 1873 by various civic leaders of Leamington who organized to provide "moral welfare of boys who attend no place of worship but spend their Sabbaths in the streets." The promoters secured an assembly hall to use and held "a service every Sunday evening adapted to the tastes and requirements of the boys, who would otherwise be roaming the streets." Further the Boys' Mission attempted "to win their confidence by manifesting sympathy with them, and by visiting them at their homes [and]  introduce them to pure and wholesome literature." 

Every year the Boys' Mission took the boys on an excursion into the countryside. In August 1884 they traveled in eight vehicles (horse-drawn wagons) to Wooten Hall, a grand house and estate about 13 miles west of Leamington. They were accompanied by "the band" which I interpret as being made up of boys from Leamington. Mr. C. R. Baker, "of the Parade, who has charge of the Branch Mission in Portland Street" was also with them and after enjoying various kinds of amusements he finished the outing by taking a photograph of the group. 

 

Leamington Spa Courier
26 November 1881

The Leamington Boys' Mission was an aid organization trying to deal with a social issue that was particularly troublesome in Victoria's Britain. Many cities were increasingly overwhelmed with wayward unsupervised youth who lived in poverty. Their families lacked access to education and the children had few opportunities to get vocational training. These conditions led to more children becoming entangled in crime, alcohol, and violence. Many people in Britain were also waging a battle with the evils of alcohol. Temperance societies urged working men to give up drink and reform their lives for God and family. Groups like the Boys' Mission sought to guide boys toward a better life and avoid the danger of alcoholism by providing religious instruction and moral lessons. Mr. Baker was one of those mentors. 

Periodically the Mission would hire the Leamington Royal Music Hall to present sermons and lectures by noted ecclesiastic personages. Admission was free but the public invited to donate to cover expenses. On occasion there would be choral singing and sometimes band music too. 

Leamington Spa Boys' Mission, c1933
15 George St., Leamington,
Source: OurWarwickshire.org.uk

The main building used by the Boys' Mission was originally a Roman Catholic chapel built in 1820 in a neoclassical style. Within a few years the congregation grew too large for the chapel's small space and the parishioners commissioned a larger house of worship, St Peter Apostle Church, which was consecrated in 1864. At some point after the chapel was acquired by the Boys' Mission in 1873, the frieze was engraved with its name, Leamington Boys Mission. The few newspaper references I found do not mention any particular Christian faith, but I'm fairly certain it was Protestant and not Catholic. What I don't know is whether the Boys' Mission was associated with the established Anglican Church of England or was governed by another denomination. Since this was an era when many Christian sects were evolving into new styles of evangelical worship, it seems likely the Boys' Mission may have had ties to a Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian church.     

Warwickshire Times
20 May 1882

In May 1882 the Warwickshire Time published a report on the Leamington Boys' Mission annual meeting.  The chairman, Rev. J. Bradley, M.A., "delivered a brief, but appropriate,  address, in the course of which he remarked that in the worst boys there were noble characteristics which were only perverted, and wanted turning into the right way.  In many bad boys there was great courage and determination, and many other excellences which only required to be turned into the right channel, and that was the object of the boys' mission—to try and get things into their right place. The training of boys was a most important work, because upon that depended the welfare of the world.  That was the object of the mission—to train boys aright.  The boys of to-day were forming habits which would cling to them through life, and be their blessing or bane.  Some boys had got into one habit of using bad language and lying, and also of dishonesty.  He would warn them against these bad habits, and exhort them to be honest, upright, and truthful."

Several other reports from this time referred to how street boys in Leamington used foul and ugly language. Most newspapers published regular accounts of criminal court proceedings which listed the names of young boys, and girls too, arrested for minor crimes or public drunkenness. It's unclear how much assistance the Mission provided its boys beyond regular Sunday school lessons. Most seemed to have a home and at least one parent, as they were not described as orphans. It seems very likely there was food but how regular it was offered is not reported. Certainly the Mission had some supervised amusements to entertain the boys. Music, either singing in a choir or playing an instrument in a brass band would have been the obvious choice for attracting young kids. 

I don't know if my photo shows the band of the Royal Leamington Boys' Mission or some other boys' band. The first mention of the Boys' Mission having musical instruments was in a report from August 1879. Other brief reports refer to a "fife and drum band" which were perfect instruments for young kids who have no musical background, but very different from those in a brass band. Maybe this band is a different group, but I think these hard-nosed boys surely ran around on the same streets as those Mission boys. I also think that Charles R. Baker knew how to talk to them and persuade them to go right, even if it was just for a few seconds as he clicked the camera shutter. 

On the 26th of December 1889, Mr. Charles R. Baker, of the Parade, married Miss Margaret Pulbrook. He and his wife were listed in the 1891 census but by the next census of 1901 they were living in Brighton where Charles' occupation was Photographer.

By July 1893, Frederick W. Beilby ("six years with C. R. Baker") was offering "High-class Photographs, Out-door photograph of all descriptions", at Baker's first address, 116, The Parade, Leamington Spa.  

From newspaper reports the Leamington Boys' Mission continued offering young boys Christian teaching through both wars and maybe beyond into the 1950s. That suggests the founders had success in both funding their faith-based enterprise and saving boys from a tragic end. 

However by the 1970s the Boys' Mission was dissolved and the chapel on 15 George Street became a social club which was abandoned by 1990. In 2023 the building is the site of the Leamington Seventh-day Adventist Church. The church has beautifully restored the exterior to historic standards with only a small modification in the frieze changing "Boys" to "Spa".

Birmingham Daily Post
8 March 1915

In March 1915 the Mayor of Leamington, (Councilor W. W. Donald) presided at the annual meeting of the Leamington Boys' Mission. He said "the Mission should be proud of the 121 former members who were serving with the colours; such institutions helped to turn out young fellows who were the backbone of the British race."

Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
only visited Royal Leamington Spa twice.
Once on August 3, 1830
and again on June 16, 1858.

This portrait of the dour-faced Queen

is contemporary with the photo of the boys' band
and was published in 1901 in a history of Royal Leamington Spa.

Jubilee Portrait of Queen Victoria 1887
Source: From Chaos to the Charter:
A Complete History of Royal Leamington Spa

Last summer in June 2023,
my wife and I visited England
just a week after the last celebrations
for the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
While walking past a village school in Kent
I spotted these children's portraits of Her Majesty
hanging in their classroom's windows.

I think she would have been very pleased to see them.
Maybe even smiled. 

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{Notice the Queen's portrait in the Sepia Saturday theme image!}

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where school holidays never end.