This is a band with a very chequered history and an existence in some form or other for over 125 years.

The band is best known as operating under the 'banner' of Harton Coal Company of South Shields. The first verifiable reference to a 'Harton Colliery Band' comes from 1873 when a band under this name participated in the Morpeth Brass Band Festival. However, after 1878, no further reference to this band can be traced and it appears to have become defunct by this date, the reason why is unknown. In 1911 another band emerged under the same title of 'Harton Colliery Band'. This seems to have been the Tyne Dock Temperance Band which, some years earlier, had been 'adopted' by the colliery for various engagements but then changed its name to enjoy the financial support offered by the colliery management.