"The British Grenadiers" is a traditional marching song of British and Commonwealth military units whose badge of identification features a grenade, the tune of which dates from the 17th century. It is the regimental quick march of the Royal Artillery (since 1716), the Corps of Royal Engineers (since 1787), the Honourable Artillery Company (since 1716), the Grenadier Guards (since 1763), and the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (since 1763). It is also an authorized march of the Royal Australian Artillery, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, the Canadian Grenadier Guards, the Royal Regiment of Canada, and the Princess Louise Fusiliers. The standard orchestration for the military band was approved in 1762, when the Royal Artillery Band (initiated in 1557) became recognized officially,[1] and for all other "grenade" regiments in 1763, when the remaining unofficial bands gained official status.
The exact origins of the tune are disputed but generally date to the early 17th century. It appears in John Playford's 1728 collection of dance tunes as "The New Bath", while Victorian musicologist William Chappell also suggested links to a 1622 work called "Sir Edward Nowell's Delight". The debate is best summarised by the composer Ernest Walker in 1907 who described the melody as "three centuries' evolution of an Elizabethan tune".[2]
The melody was introduced into Britain as a military march during the 1689–1702 reign of William III and has similarities with one written for Prince John William of Friesland (1687–1711). Henry Grattan Flood suggested as another candidate the 1672 Dutch march "Wilhelmus van Nassouwe", which in turn was a reworking of a French version from 1568.[3]
"The British Grenadiers" refers to grenadiers in general, not the Grenadier Guards Regiment, and all Fusilier units were entitled to use it. It allegedly commemorates an assault in August 1695 by 700 British grenadiers on the French-held fortress of Namur during the Nine Years War.[4] A tune known as 'The Granadeer's March' was mentioned in a London publication in 1706, although it is not clear that it was the same melody known today.[5] Francis Grose in his 1786 work Military Antiquities quoted two lines of the lyrics ("Come let us fill a bumper, and drink a health to those,/Who wear the caps and pouches, and eke the looped clothes") as part of a "grenadier song" he already considered to be "old".[6]
It was a popular tune in both Britain and North America throughout the 18th and 19th centuries and remains so.[7] It is most commonly heard today in the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony when the Colour Escort marches into position on Horse Guards Parade.[8] Like "Rule, Britannia!", the song is frequently used in film and television to introduce a British setting or character, or indicate stereotypical Britishness. Owing to its popularity, the tune has been frequently set to different texts, including church hymns.[9]
The following text may date back to the War of Spanish Succession (1702–1713), since it refers to the grenadiers throwing grenades and the men wearing "caps and pouches" (i.e. the tall grenadier caps,[10] worn by these elite troops, and the heavy satchel[11] in which grenades were carried) and "loupèd clothes" – coats with broad bands of 'lace' across the chest that distinguished early grenadiers.[12]
Before the American Revolution, Joseph Warren wrote a parody song called "Free America" to the same tune.
There are a number of words in the song not commonly used or whose meaning is obscure:[13]