The Royal Dragoon Guards adopted "Fare Thee Well Inniskilling " from the 5th Royal Inniskilling Guards as their new Regimental quick march.
When Mr. E. Adams became Bandmaster of the 6th Inniskillings in 1908, he heard the men singing an old ballad, 'The Inniskilling Dragoon', written in the 18th century by Charles Lever. Recognising its popularity, Mr. Adams took down the tune and made it into a march, which became an immediate success. The first and last verses are:
A beautiful damsel, of fame and renown,
A gentleman's daughter near Monaghan town;
As she rode by the barracks, this beautiful maid,
She stood in her coach to see Dragoons on parade.
Fare thee well, Inniskilling! fare thee well for a while
To all your fair waters and every green isle!
And when the war is over we'll return again soon,
And they'll all welcome home the Inniskilling Dragoon.
The march was lengthened by adding an arrangement of 'Far Far Away', a song said to have been composed by Mr. Adams himself. In 1931 it was presented to the Regiment as 'Fare Ye Well Inniskilling'; and in 1952 Bandmaster Norman Richardson re-arranged it and it was adopted as the Regimental quick march.
Click the link above to download and listen to the Regimental quick march (played by the Band of the Royal Dragoon Guards under Bandmaster R. Pennington, 1994), or click here to learn more about the Regimental slow march.
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