Bury Volunteers & Bury Assembly

Bury Volunteers: Many battalions of volunteer soldiers were raised in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, in order to fight the Napoleonic and Peninsular Wars.

The original in F (above) and transposed to D (below).

Bury Assembly: Dancing assemblies at Bury St Edmunds were occasions for the “nobility and gentry” to gather, matches to be made and fashions to be displayed. Francis Sandys’ 1804 Assembly Room at the Athaeneum still exists. The local musicians and composers would be very familiar with the assemblies through performing at them. See the section on Cultural Background for more details.