It is generally believed to have been established in 1844, but a March 1840 invoice from instrument maker Charles Pace shows the purchase of three bugles, suggesting that the band was already being assembled.

His thirteen-year-old son George Livsey joined the band at the same time as a keyed bugle player, later playing the cornet.

[4] During this period, the band immersed itself in the music of the European mainland, playing pieces by Louis-Antoine Jullien, Gioachino Rossini, and Giacomo Meyerbeer among others.

[7] After playing the required set of quadrilles composed by Jackson,[6]: 577  and an arrangement of the overture to Verdi's opera Nabucco, the band won the latter contest.

He began working with German-educated French musician George D'Artney to prepare scores for the band, and housed him within Cyfarthfa Castle.

Despite D'Artney's apparent drinking problem, they successfully compiled a repertoire of handwritten, eclectic music, featuring transcriptions of symphonies by the greatest European composers.

In 1871, the band played at the wedding of Henrietta Louise Crawshay to Captain W. C. Ralston at Cyfarthfa Castle.

[1]: 3  The band often played in the wagon shed of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks, which had been converted into a ballroom when the Crawshays sought to entertain.

[1]: 3 In 1902, with the Cyfarthfa Ironworks being taken over by Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds, the band was no longer supported by its industrial namesake.

[15] The museum at Cyfarthfa Castle holds several instruments known to have belonged to the band, engraved with either "W. T. Crawshay, Esq."