The Guardsman Project is now completed!

But the first edition of 30 copies is already exhausted. A second edition is planned; see below, and email if you wish to reserve a copy. You will not be under any obligation.

FOR CORRECTIONS AND ADDITIONS, click here

Yes, the relatively complete listing of the fascinating British label Guardsman, and its precursor Invicta, which spanned the years 1912 – 1928, is finally available in book form, as you see below:

It consists of 204 A4-size pages, wire bound, and printed on good quality 100 gsm paper. It has 12 pages of label illustrations in full colour, plus a rare photograph of the bandmaster of H. M. Irish Guards Band, Mr. C. H. Hassell (later Captain Hassell). A portrait of him, made circa early 1912, was almost certainly the origin of the label name ‘Guardsman’. It was painted by Francis Barraud, who had earlier created the immortal ‘His Master’s Voice’ image. Francis was the brother of William Barraud, original proprietor of Invicta and Guardsman records. There is supporting text by Steven Walker, Mike Thomas, Michael Aylward and Joe Moore; and more than enough from myself. 8^) I would point out that I was merely the typist and general factotum of the Project, and did not wish my name to appear on the front cover: but Frank Andrews insisted that it did. Editorial prerogative was exercised, by making my name smaller.

Besides Artiste and Title indexes, the book also has an accompanying CD-ROM. This contains 46 pages of expert comment by the renowned discographer Frank Andrews, on the origins and evolution of the labels together with company history. These appear by permission of the CLPGS* and Frank. In addition, you have the MS Excel database from which the book was compiled: this enables you to instantly search the data, and sort it in different ways. Also, images of three Guardsman catalogues (which are of extreme rarity) are included, plus all the record labels which appear in the book along with additional illustrations. Had all this been incorporated in the book itself, it would have become far larger and more expensive.

Nevertheless, even though it is a fascinating book, it is also an esoteric one; so only 30 copies have initially been printed. It was launched at the CLPGS Convention in Warwick (September 24th – 26th 2010). Several copies were sold there, and complimentary copies were presented to Frank Andrews and the CLPGS itself. Copies are also being presented to The British Library and H. M. Irish Guards Band, who contributed indispensable data; and of course the family of the late Arthur Badrock, who is the ‘father’ of this listing, will receive one. So all in all, there aren’t actually that many copies left! If you would like one, please write to the email address below. The cost is just £20, plus £3.50 Post and Packing for destinations within the U.K. PayPal is fine. But just email in the first place, so that your copy can be reserved for you! The book will be posted out in a cardboard carton, not just an envelope, hence the relatively high P+P. Of course, the publication of this book is in no way a profit-making exercise! Should any profit accidentally arise – which is highly improbable – it will be remitted to Arthur Badrock’s family. But on that point, I must here give grateful thanks to William Dean-Myatt, M Phil. for the generous cash donation he made, which helped to ensure the publication of this work.

To reserve your copy, simply email: guardsman@normanfield.com

Please do not send a PayPal remittance to the above email address; (a) it is not my PayPal address and (b) there may be no copies left – though a second printing will be made if necessary. Just email to reserve a copy, and I will reply, giving you the address to which to send your PayPal remittance, or for that matter your cheque, which will be equally fine – please make out a cheque, payable to Norman Field, for £23.50, and send it to me at 65 Tedstone Road, Quinton, Birmingham B32 2PB. For orders to world-wide destinations, please email the above address for a quote on International Small Packet Air Mail. (Ball-park figures for the U.S.A., Australia & Japan are £12.50 (~US$20). The book itself is ~US$32).

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The listing is only about 85% complete. There are still a lot of total gaps in it. These are as follows:

2-4; 6-14; 18; 20; 23-28; 30; 32-34; 37; 39-42; 45; 48; 50-51; 53-54; 56; 60; 63-71; 74-77; 79-82; 85; 87; 91-93; 101-103; 107; 109; 111; 119; 123-124; 128-130; 132; 135; 137; 143-145; 150; 158-159; 164; 168; 171; 180; 185-191; 524-5; 619; 627; 633; 637; 639; 643; 648-649; 659-662; 664-665; 697-698; 700-703; 716; 965-966; 1113-1116; 1150; 1155-1156; 1158-1159; 1164; 1168-1169; 1190-1194; 1196; 1199; 1206-1207; 1209; 1217-1219; 1222; 1229; 1232-1233; 1236; 1239; 1241; 1246-1248; 1253-1256; 1258-1261; 1263-1264; 1270; 1277; 1279-1280; 1284; 1286; 1292-1293; 1298-1299; 1302-1303; 1305; 1307; 1322-1325; 1329-1220; 1338-1339; 1347; 1352; 1356; 1360; 1362; 1365; 1369-1370; 1375; 1381; 1384; 1391; 1394; 1404-1405; 1410-1413; 1418; 1424; 1484; 1632-1633; 1635; 1638; 1640; 1642; 1644-1646; 1649-1650; 1652-1653; 1655-1657; 1661-1662; 1664-1666; 1673-1676; 1678; 1681-1682; 1686; 1688-1690; 1692; 1694-1695; 1706; 1709; 1786-1787; 1789; 1793; 1814; 1820; 1881; 1909; 2078; 2108; 2112; 2120; 2124; 2129-2131; 2134.

…so it goes without saying that if you have any of the above Invictas or Guardsmans in your collection – or even if they are lying in a ‘junk-pile’ in your garage, please let us know, as complete details of these will be very welcome. You will receive credit in any future printing.

Apart from the ‘complete gaps’ there are of course many hundreds of missing master numbers &c. So if you can spare the time, just send the catalogue numbers of any Invicta and/or Guardsman records in your collection. If we need any info. from them, I will email you asking for it. Again, you will be credited.

Besides the regular 10" 1 – 2140 series, there are several other series. At least 115 12" Invicta and Guardsman issues, running from 2001 to 2115 were also issued. We have artist and title details for all these, but incredibly, master/control numbers for only a tiny handful of them. So… if you have any 12" discs, please let us know.

Also, do you have any of the 6000, 6750, 7250, 8000, N-8250 and N-8500 series Guardsman discs? These are Jewish, Russian-Jewish, Polish and Welsh recordings, many of which seem to come from American Vocalion, though the Welsh ones are from Aco. If so, please tell us; we have details of about 15 or 20 of them, but need more, please. And just to round off this page in a rather surreal way, Guardsman, in one of their rare printed catalogues, dated 1927, informed us that:

Well, that’s fine: Hebrew-Jewish, Polish, Russian and Welsh issues are definitely known, each with their own catalogue series. However, as yet, no Danish Guardsman records have surfaced. Does this mean there weren’t any? Not at all: I really think they’re out there, quite definitely! The more I learn about Guardsman, the more I marvel at the things they did. If you have a Danish Guardsman, please do share it with us? All your information will be duly credited to you in any reprint of the book.

Please email anything on the above, to: guardsman@normanfield.com

Many thanks.

* CLPGS is an abbreviation for the City of London Phonograph and Gramophone Society. It has just celebrated its 90th anniversary, and is de facto our National Society for Cylinder Phonographs, Disc Gramophones, and the media for playing on them. It has a world-wide membership, and produces an excellent quarterly magazine ‘For The Record’. The Society has also published many label listings and other books over the years; many are still available. The subscription to the CLPGS is very modest. Why not join? If you have any interest in any of these matters, you should certainly check out the website:

www.clpgs.org.uk

Page written 3rd December 2009.

Revised 28th March 2010.

Revised 26th October 2010.