Town Waits were originally guards or watchmen who also played music for the mayor on ceremonial occasions. The word ‘wait’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon wician, to watch. In the medieval period, waits were employed in castles and noble houses to pipe music at set hours, to change the guard, or to announce an arrival. From about the 15th century AD towns began to employ official waits to play at ceremonial feasts and processions. Sometimes the waits accompanied miracle plays and welcomed important visitors. In his Chronicles, Holinshed (about 1520-81) described Elizabeth I’s visit to Norwich in 1578, when the waits ‘cheerfully and melodiously welcomed her majesty’.

Leicester’s waits were first mentioned in 1499, when they were paid six shillings and eight pence (33p) for a performance. The town’s councillors were taxed to pay for them and wealthy citizens also contributed. The money was shared out among three musicians and an apprentice. The waits were given a livery (uniform) of tawny orange wool with a silver collar engraved with a cinquefoil (five-petalled flower) as their badge of office. Official status was important to distinguish them from common wandering minstrels, who fell foul of the law banning ‘rogues, vagabonds and sturdy beggars’ in Elizabeth I’s reign. Leicester’s waits, with many others, were disbanded in the 19th century under local government reforms.