The minutes from the July 27, 1917 LSO Board meeting note that 34 LSO members were serving in the military, including the leader W.H. Reed and half of the violin section. It was resolved that musicians serving would be excused from paying fees to deputies filling in for them. However, one violinist, Robert Carrodus, was later spotted performing at the Savoy Theatre while supposedly on military duty. The board decided to revoke the fee waiver in response.

1. Minutes from the LSO Board meeting, 27 July 1917:
‘Sympathetic reference was made in regard to
The LSO: 1914–18
© IWM Q 47602
Members of the Orchestra whom had joined
His Majesty’s Forces’
© LSO Archive

2. By 1917, 34 Members of the LSO were away on
active service, including the Leader W H Reed and
half of the violin section
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

3. © LSO Archive
In all we have discovered 41 musicians who had
played with the LSO, or were to play with them in
the future, that served in World War I
The LSO: 1914–18

4. The following musicians of the LSO served in the War of 1914–18
Frank Almgill flute
Edward Augarde clarinet
George Bennett horn
Charles Blackford cello
Robert Carrodus violin
Edward Carwardine violin
Charles Crabb cello
Cecil Dorling viola
George Eskdale trumpet
Sidney Freedman violin
Reginald Garnet viola
Edward Garvin trombone
Harold Grimson violin
Ernest Hall trumpet
Frederick Hawkins violin
Eli Hudson flute
Arthur Ives violin
Harry Jackson horn
C Bertram Jones violin
Paul Kilburn viola
Roll of Honour
Philip Lewis violin
Bertram Lewis violin/
orchestra manager
Arthur Maney cello
Joseph Meacham violin
Sydney Moxon trumpet
Robert Murchie flute
Henry Nisbet flute
Thomas Peatfield violin
Alexander Penn horn
Horace Ralph violin
William H Reed violin
Bernard Reillie violin
David Roy Robertson violin
John Silvester double bass
Richard Tabb cello
Arthur Tibbetts violin
Edgar Wilby violin
Charles Woodhouse violin
Ernest Yonge viola
The LSO: 1914–18

5. Sydney Moxon trumpet
#2488 Sergeant Bugler, London Regiment
Trumpeter Sydney
Moxon was one of the
first LSO Members
to join the Army,
in September 1914
© IWM Q 640
The LSO: 1914–18

6. Sydney Moxon trumpet
#2488 Sergeant Bugler, London Regiment
His battalion, the
Prince of Wales’ Own
Civil Service Rifles,
was sent to France on
15 March 1915
© IWM Q 640
The LSO: 1914–18

7. Sydney Moxon trumpet
#2488 Sergeant Bugler, London Regiment
He was a popular figure
with the locals in
Bruay, where he was
billetted, as he spoke
fluent French
© IWM Q 640
The LSO: 1914–18

8. Sydney Moxon trumpet
#2488 Sergeant Bugler, London Regiment
Sydney was killed on
25 October 1916
near Ypres whilst
helping a wounded
colleague to safety
He is buried in
Woods Cemetery
in West Flanders,
3 miles south
of Ypres
The LSO: 1914–18 Photo from British War Graves

9. Eli Hudson flute
#764433 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery
(Special Reserve)
Eli Hudson was a
well-known flautist,
whose trio with his
wife and sister was a
regular on the
music hall circuit
The LSO: 1914–18

10. Eli Hudson flute
#764433 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery
(Special Reserve)
In 1915 he went to France
with ‘The National Theatre
at The Front’, performing
piccolo duets to entertain
the troops
The LSO: 1914–18

11. Eli Hudson flute
#764433 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery
(Special Reserve)
He enlisted in the Army
on his return in 1916, and
was again sent to France,
this time to fight with his
regiment
The LSO: 1914–18

12. Eli Hudson flute
#764433 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
2nd Lieutenant, Royal Garrison Artillery
(Special Reserve)
Eli died aged just 41 in
January 1919, a couple of
months after the end of
the war, in Millfield
Military Hospital from
cancer. He is buried in
Highgate Cemetery
Photo from British War Graves
The LSO: 1914–18

13. George Bennett horn
#763118 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
#9114 Lieutenant, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
George Bennett toured
with the LSO to the USA
in 1912 as an ‘extra’.
He was a member of
the Hallé in Manchester
Photo courtesy of Sam Young and the family of George Bennett
The LSO: 1914–18

14. George Bennett horn
#763118 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
#9114 Lieutenant, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
He also played in the
Llandudno Pier
Orchestra, where he
lived during the summer
months, and was a
popular soloist locally
Photo courtesy of Sam Young and the family of George Bennett
The LSO: 1914–18

15. George Bennett horn
#763118 Private, London Regiment (Artists Rifles)
#9114 Lieutenant, Royal Warwickshire Regiment
George was involved in
the Battle of Cambrai
in 1917,
and was killed during
a German counter-attack
on 3 December
He had just arranged
leave to visit his wife
and 3-year-old son John
for Christmas
Photo courtesy of Sam Young and the family of George Bennett
The LSO: 1914–18

16. Roy Robertson violin
#16092 Private, Scots Guards
Roy Robertson, also
known as David, joined
the LSO in 1916 at the
very young age of 17 on
the recommendation of
the Leader W H Reed
© Royal British Legion
The LSO: 1914–18

17. Roy Robertson violin
#16092 Private, Scots Guards
In October 1916 he
joined the Army,
having lied about his
age in order to do so
© Royal British Legion
The LSO: 1914–18

18. Roy Robertson violin
#16092 Private, Scots Guards
Roy joined the Scots
Guards as a musician –
famous for their red
tunics and Busby hats,
frequently seen on
ceremonial duties today
© Royal British Legion
The LSO: 1914–18

19. Roy Robertson violin
#16092 Private, Scots Guards
Sadly Roy was unsuited to
duties with the Guards. He
was discharged with a
heart condition brought on
by marching just
one year later
© Royal British Legion
He returned to duties
with the LSO in
London, but left the
Orchestra in 1920
The LSO: 1914–18

20. Ernest Hall trumpet
Regiment unknown
Ernest Hall joined the LSO
at the age of 20 in 1911,
and was one of the first
LSO Members to join the
Army at the outbreak of
war
© BBC
The LSO: 1914–18

21. Ernest Hall trumpet
Regiment unknown
We know little of his
wartime story, although
happily Ernest survived
and returned to the LSO,
becoming Principal
Trumpet in 1924
© BBC
The LSO: 1914–18

22. Ernest Hall trumpet
Regiment unknown
He went on to become
one of the greatest
trumpet teachers of the
20th century, and was
awarded an OBE in 1962
© BBC
The LSO: 1914–18

23. Edward Elgar Carillon
composed November 1914
© LSO Archive
Like most people at first, Elgar assumed the War
would last only a few months. Nevertheless,
he wrote several works in 1914 to raise funds for
countries affected by German occupation
The LSO: 1914–18

24. Edward Elgar Carillon
composed November 1914
Carillon, performed tonight,
was composed in November
1914 to raise funds for
Belgian charities helping
people affected by the War.
The work was premiered by
the LSO and Elgar on 7
December 1914 at The
Queen’s Hall
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

25. Edward Elgar Carillon
composed November 1914
The Orchestra and Elgar
went on to perform the work
on an eight-date UK cities
tour in March 1915, with
narration by Tita Brand, wife
of the poem’s Belgian author
Émile Cammaerts. All
proceeds went to war
charities in Belgium
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

26. Edward Elgar Carillon
composed November 1914
A recording was later
made, again for the
charities. The work then
largely fell out of favour,
before being revived for
similar purposes during
World War II, this time
with the famous
Laurence Binyon poem
‘For the Fallen’
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

27. Robert Carrodus violin
#15043 Private, West Riding Regiment
© LSO Archive
During the early years of the War the LSO Board patriotically
agreed to excuse Members serving in
His Majesty’s Forces from paying fees to deputies
filling in for them while they were away on duties
The LSO: 1914–18

28. Robert Carrodus violin
#15043 Private, West Riding Regiment
Unfortunately this
generosity was abused:
one Member, violinist
Robert Carrodus, was
spotted in October 1916
playing nightly at the
Savoy Theatre whilst
supposedly away on
Army duties
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

29. Robert Carrodus violin
#15043 Private, West Riding Regiment
The LSO Board minutes of
25 October 1916 note
with disappointment that
the gesture of waving
deputies fees should be
revoked and that Robert
should pay his debt
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

30. Adolf Borsdorf horn
LSO Founder
Anti-German feeling
caused the LSO several
problems during the War,
the saddest of which is the
story of Adolf Borsdorf,
horn player, founding
member of the LSO and
member of the Board of
Directors
Photo courtesy of Dennis Bradley and Geoffrey Walker of the Borsdorf family
The LSO: 1914–18

31. Adolf Borsdorf horn
LSO Founder
Although Borsdorf was of
German origin, he had
become a naturalised Brit.
However his colleagues
were concerned about
employing the ‘enemy’
Photo courtesy of Dennis Bradley and Geoffrey Walker of the Borsdorf family
The LSO: 1914–18

32. Adolf Borsdorf horn
LSO Founder
He was gradually demoted through the ranks, before
finally being asked for his resignation in October 1915.
His grandsons report that Borsdorf rarely played again,
and never talked of this incident
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

33. Adolf Borsdorf horn
LSO Founder
Borsdorf’s sons were
also musicians. They
changed their surname
to avoid similar reprisals
Courtesy of Dennis Bradley and Geoffrey Walker of the Borsdorf family
The LSO: 1914–18

34. The Pall Mall Gazette
Anti-German feeling also
had an effect on the
very nature of music and
music-making during the
War
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

35. The Pall Mall Gazette
In 1915 the LSO had
performed its first annual
‘Three-Bs Festival’,
featuring Bach, Brahms
and Beethoven, to great
acclaim
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

36. The Pall Mall Gazette
But a year later,
the proposed repeat
attracted criticism
in the press, which
accused it of promoting
the music of the enemy
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

37. The Pall Mall Gazette
LSO concerts were
picketed, and a war
of words was waged
in the pages of
The Pall Mall Gazette
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

38. The Pall Mall Gazette
It was decided that the
Brahms’ Second
Symphony should be
substituted by music by a
more patriotically
suitable English ‘B’:
Granville Bantock’s
Hebridean Overture
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

39. The Pall Mall Gazette
One observer quipped
that the substitution had
done more to further the
cause of German music
than performing the
planned Brahms
symphony!
© British Newspaper Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

40. © LSO Archive
‘It was unanimously resolved that no further symphony
concerts be given until the conclusion of the War’
LSO Board meeting minutes, 26 September 1917
The LSO: 1914–18

41. © LSO Archive
Three years into the War, the LSO was struggling. With
compulsory conscription in 1916 came a shortage of
available musicians, and gloomy news from the Front sapped
the appetite for culture in those left in London
The LSO: 1914–18

42. © LSO Archive
A new threat of attack from silent but deadly Zeppelins meant
concerts started earlier to allow people to get home before
air-raid time, but people were afraid to venture out unnecessarily
The LSO: 1914–18

43. The LSO’s income suffered dramatically and made
promoting any series of concerts, such as it had in
the first ten years, virtually impossible
© LSO Archive
The LSO: 1914–18

44. © LSO Archive
The LSO survived thanks to the conductor Sir Thomas
Beecham, who accepted responsibility for the
Orchestra’s expenses and gave it a gift of £100
The LSO: 1914–18

45. © LSO Archive
The Orchestra managed to get itself back to
independent financial stability in 1919 and
restarted its own-promoted concert series in 1920
The LSO: 1914–18

46. The area around the
Barbican Centre
and LSO St Luke’s,
where you are now
sitting, was heavily
bombed by Zeppelins
including a hit at the
end of Whitecross
Street near LSO St
Luke’s in 1917
The LSO: 1914–18
© IWM HO 9

47. Map by Londonist.com
The green lines show the route of two Zeppelin bombing raids on 8
September & 13 October 1915 and a just few of the impact sites.
70 people were killed on just these two nights. Between May 1915
and October 1917, 200 people were killed by Zeppelins
The LSO: 1914–18

48. Harold (Bonarius) Grimson violin
#D/9523 Private, 6th Iniskilling Dragoons
© Low Level Aerial Photography, with kind permission
Harold Grimson was one of seven children of a well-known
London musical family. He had toured with the Orchestra to
the US in 1912, although was not an official member
The LSO: 1914–18

49. Harold (Bonarius) Grimson violin
#D/9523 Private, 6th Iniskilling Dragoons
Harold was killed during the charge of Guislain Ridge, part of
the Battle of Cambrai, on 1 December 1917, but his death
was not confirmed until his ID tag was sent back from the
Front nearly a year later
The LSO: 1914–18
Photo from British War Graves

50. Harold (Bonarius) Grimson violin
#D/9523 Private, 6th Iniskilling Dragoons
Tragically, Harold’s sister
Jessie, another violinist, also
lost her husband, the cellist
Edward Mason, in 1915
She never got over the
loss of her husband and
brother and retired
through ill health in 1927
Photo from ‘The Lady’s Realm’, 1889
With kind permission of songofthelark.wordpress.com/tag/barns-ethel
The LSO: 1914–18

51. Harry Jackson horn
#181420 Private, Royal Engineers Railway Troops
#197119 Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery
Harry Jackson was born into
a Yorkshire wool trade
family and learnt his musical
craft playing in the bands
and musical societies in his
home town of Eccleshill
near Bradford
The LSO: 1914–18

52. Harry Jackson horn
#181420 Private, Royal Engineers Railway Troops
#197119 Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery
He had moved to London
in early 1916, joining the
LSO in May that year.
He was almost
immediately called to join
the Army, as a Bugler, in
the first wave of
conscription in June
The LSO: 1914–18

53. Harry Jackson horn
#181420 Private, Royal Engineers Railway Troops
#197119 Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery
Two months before the
end of the war, whilst
serving with the Royal
Garrison Artillery in France,
Harry was kicked in the
face by a horse, causing a
numb cheek and upper lip
– potentially career-changing
for a brass player
The LSO: 1914–18

54. Harry Jackson horn
#181420 Private, Royal Engineers Railway Troops
#197119 Gunner, Royal Garrison Artillery
However his fears were
unfounded. He returned to
the LSO and performed
with the Orchestra until
1935, aged 49
The LSO: 1914–18

55. George Eskdale trumpet
#10167 Private, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
At the outbreak of the
War George Eskdale was
serving as a bandsman in
India, after enlisting aged
just 14 at Kneller Hall, the
Army’s School of Music,
in 1911
With the kind permission of Howard Snell
The LSO: 1914–18

56. George Eskdale trumpet
#10167 Private, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
His battalion served in
German East Africa, Egypt
and Palestine before joining
the Allied Forces on the
Western Front towards the
end of the War
With the kind permission of Howard Snell
The LSO: 1914–18

57. George Eskdale trumpet
#10167 Private, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
He was severely wounded
in the leg during the Battle
of Passchendaele in 1917,
earning him the Silver War
Badge. He walked with a
limp for the rest of his life
With the kind permission of Howard Snell
The LSO: 1914–18

58. George Eskdale trumpet
#10167 Private, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment
George did not join the LSO
until after the War, in 1932,
becoming Principal Trumpet
in 1933 and a Director on the
LSO Board. He was also a
soloist and influenced a
generation of trumpeters with
his sound. He remained with
the LSO until he retired in 1958
With the kind permission of Howard Snell
The LSO: 1914–18

59. Henry Nisbet flute
#319300 Sergeant, Royal Garrison Artillery
Like a few of the LSO’s
musicians, Henry Nisbet
already had a military
background before World
War I, serving as a
Bandsman with the
Coldstream Guards in
the 1880s
Photo courtesy of Jack Nisbet and the Nisbet family
The LSO: 1914–18

60. Henry Nisbet flute
#319300 Sergeant, Royal Garrison Artillery
He was 46 when the
war broke out and
above the upper age
limit of conscription,
originally age 18–41
Photo courtesy of Jack Nisbet and the Nisbet family
The LSO: 1914–18

61. Photo courtesy of Jack Nisbet and the Nisbet family
Henry Nisbet flute
#319300 Sergeant, Royal Garrison Artillery
Nevertheless he joined the
volunteer army
in 1915, and as an
experienced soldier he
was in demand to train
officers at the Office Cadet
School
The LSO: 1914–18

62. More information and stories about the
LSO in World War I can be read on the LSO blog:
blog.lso.co.uk/tag/ww1
Remembering the Members of the
London Symphony Orchestra of 1914–18
The LSO: 1914–18
who served in the war:
livesofthefirstworldwar.org/community/561
Research by Jo Johnson, Libby Rice and Gareth Davies
With thanks to the Imperial War Museum, DC Thomson Family History, First World War Centenary Partnership,
LSO Archives, Royal College of Music, London Metropolitan Archives, The National Archive, Royal Society of Musicians,
Forces War Records, British War Graves, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, The Long Long Trail website;
and the families of our musicians: Sam Young, Jack Nisbet, Geoffrey Walker and Dennis Bradley