Back to Historical Notes Contents.
Historical Notes
Navy Bands in Canada.
At the outset of the second world war, a navy band was formed in 1939 at Toronto which then moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was based at the naval base HMCS Stadacona under Alfred F Zealley. Later that year a band was formed at HMCS Naden in Esquimalt, British Columbia under HG Cuthbert. These bands soon proved their worth which prompted Naval Headquarters to establish bands at other training establishments. AF Zealley supervised the bands from 1939-45. The following bands served during the war:
HMCS Nabob (Aircraft carrier)
HMCS Uganda (Cruiser)
HMCS Ontario (Cruiser)
HMCS Stadacona Halifax, NS.
HMCS Naden Esquimalt, BC.
HMCS Cornwallis Digby, NS.
HMCS Niobe, Greenock, Scotland
HMCS St. Hyacinthe, St Hyacinthe, Quebec
HMCS Shelburne Shelburne, NS.
HMCS Protector St John's Newfoundland
HMCSChatham Prince Rupert, BC.HMCS York Toronto, Ontario.
HMCS Chippawa Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canadian Navy Bands were featured on the Trans-Canada network and US networks and the HMCS Niobe band made broadcasts over the BBC for south America and the far east.
After the end of the war, all band personnel were released. During a period of reorganization which followed, two bands were maintained in the permenent force, HMCS Stadacona and HMCS Naden. HG Chuthbert was named Director of Music for the Naden Band and Stan Sunderland director of the Stadacona Band.
As time went by, other bands were authorized and a Naval School of Music was established at Esquimalt, BC. Naval Bandmasters had to attend the Naval School of Music and then the Royal Marines school of music in England. They were required to pass the Licentiate examination at the Royal Academy of Music in London. SEF Sunderland was named Supervisor of Naval Bands and Director of the naval school of music. HG Cuthbert was the supervisor for the East coast bands and M Nold was the administrative officer for the reserve bands. The following regular bands were serving ships and establishments as of 1958:
HMCS Cornwallis, at Cornwallis, NS.-T Jones, Director.
HMCS Stadacona at Halifax, NS.-T Milner, Director.
HMCS Shearwater at Dartmouth, NS.-J McGuire, Director.
HMCS Bonaventure (Aircraft Carrier) at Halifax, NS.-W Stitt, Director.
HMCS Naden at Esquimalt, BC.-William Gordon, Director.
HMCS Ontario (Cruiser) at Esquimalt, BC-B Botten, Director.
Other bands served in the reserve naval forces.