The difference between a Drummer and a Boy in the Band.

As the difference has been discussed elsewhere on the forum. I thought what better way to illustrate it than by using photographs.

Here is a Drummer of the 24th in a frock, photographed in Chatham, circa 1877.

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John Young Collection.

Then the visibly younger Boy, serving in the Band, photographed at the same location, at about the same time, but in full-dress.

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John Young Collection.

JY

Posts : 588 Join date : 2013-05-07 Location : Brecon

At the time of AZW, a 'boy' soldier was a rank in the Army - he could enlist at age 14 years and would retain the rank until aged 18 years. His pay was half that of an adult, i.e. Private. It was not unusual for someone to enlisted under age - say 13 years (as my grandfather did) - particularly if the family were already serving with the battalion; many were orphans who attached themselves to the battalion. Once enlisted Boy soldiers were assigned to Regimental Band or Battalion Corps of Drums. At 18 years a boy could also qualify as a 'drummer' (an extra penny a day pay) and then formerly hold the rank of 'drummer'. Normally, 'boy' soldiers were not expected to serve in the front line of any action. However this was not strictly enforced until 2nd ABW. The difficulties with some of these stories from AZW is the Corps of Drums was often referred to collectively as 'the Drummer boys' when most serving in the Corps were adults.

To be absolutely precise, unofficially Boys were recruited during the year in which they became 15, i.e. when they were 14, and if they lied about their age they might be as young as 13 or 12.
About three-quarters of Boys served apprenticeships as musicians (normally a bugler or drummer) and a quarter as shoemaker or tailor.
There is an excellent photo of one of the 1/24th Boys in the photo of H coy taken Oct 1878 kneeling to the right of Sergt. Deeming.

Posts : 2 Join date : 2022-06-15

Using a ruler, and a mirror, I measured the height of my head as about 9 inches or about 22.86 centimeters.

The drummer in the photo seems to be about 7.7 times as tall as his head. Thus he should be about 69.4 iches, or feet 9.4 inches, or 176.3 centimeters, tall. Of course I measured both his overall height and the height of his head up to the bottom of his headgear, thinking that would be closer to the top of his head than the top of the cap would be.

The boy in the photo is bareheaded, and seems to be about 6.29 times as tall as his head, and thus approximately 56.6 inches, or 4 feet 8.6 inches, or about 143.7 centimeters, tall.

Is there any identification of either the drummer or the boy?

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