Quote:
Originally Posted by James K
Not interested in an argument. My grandfather was a drummer in the East Surrey Regt and was also a bugler. In the Royal Marines Band Service and line infantry regiments, drummers are called buglers and, in infantry regiments, usually form the SF machine gun platoon. Here is a different photo of my grandfather, a drummer bugler, wearing a drummer badge not a bugle.
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You are absolutely correct James, regular infantry battalions most commonly had the appointment of “drummer”, apart from light infantry and rifle regiments (in a minority overall), which had bugler. Those Territorial Force/Army battalions that originated from the old volunteer rifle corps sometimes (but not always) also used the appointment bugler purely as a historical thread connecting to their origins. The appointment of drummer is much older than bugler and so to be strictly correct protocol wise, when they are massed the correct designation is drums and bugles, or drums and pipes. The drummers were trained to use fife and bugle in addition to drum and sounded daily routines that demarcated the infantryman’s day as laid down by standing orders. Conversely light infantry and rifles buglers were trained only on the bugle, although naturally they commonly sounded it especially well due not least to the singular focus placed upon it.