BIDGOOD, THOMAS

Thomas Bidgood was born about 1870 in Woolwich, a borough in the eastern part of London which is now part of the Greenwich and Newham London boroughs. Woolwich was the home, since 1716, of the Royal Regiment of Artillery; its versatile band, from its inception in 1762, required all members to play string as well as wind or percussion instruments. During Thomas Bidgood’s boyhood, the Royal Artillery Band had a total of seventy-one performers and was reputed to rate...