‘The Drums of the Fore and Aft’, Woodbridge, Suffolk.

‘The Drums of the Fore and Aft’. Given to the town of Wodbridge by the 9th Earl of Albermarle whose father was the sculptor. Created c1902 and cast at the foundry of AB Burton.

The sculpture shows a drummer boy beating the signal to attack with his companion the bugler slumped dying at his side. It illustrates a story by Kipling of the Afghan war published in 1895. The men of an untried regiment known as the Fore and Aft at first fled from the Muslim fighters leaving the youthful drummer boy stranded together with his bugler companion. Fueled by the alcohol in their flasks and bravery they rallied the regiment. An obviously amateur piece but the moving representation of the dead bugler must reflect the 8th Earl's experience of the Boer War in the previous year, where he successfully led five companies of the City Imperial Volunteers, at the Battle of Doornkop. The earlier history of the sculpture is not recorded but it was on this site by 1979