Excelsior Band

Swanbourne’s Brass Band (early 20th Century) – The Swanbourne Excelsior Brass Band

Ken Harris explains

At the beginning of the 20^th Century, Swanbourne had its own brass band. We do not know when it started, but the Bucks Herald of 24^th May 1902 records that the band headed a parade of the village on Thursday 15^th May, as part of the Annual Swanbourne Benefit Club Festival.

Its Bandmaster was George Edwin, who seems to have been George Manders Edwin, a bricklayer from Winslow, who was living in Swanbourne in 1901 (census) with his wife, Louisa, and their daughter Edith. Their marriage was registered in Jul – Sept 1891 in West Ham, Essex, but he was buried in Swanbourne on 17^th June 1908, aged 28 – his address being The Asylum, Stone.

The last reference relating to the band so far found is for Tuesday 7^th August 1906, when the band played at the Swanbourne Sports Gathering, so it may have been a very short-lived band.

Swanbourne Excelsior Brass Band at the Feast Day Parade, 1912

Above and left – Swanbourne Excelsior Brass Band at the Old House, Swanbourne, 1910.

(Note:- Click on photographs to enlarge)

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