The bugle that sounded during a catastrophic cavalry charge in the Crimean war could be rehomed in Brompton.

The Ministry of Defence plans to sell off its historic Kneller Hall in London and move the Royal Military School of Music.

Home to the bugle that sounded the Charge of the Light Brigade, which saw heavy British casualties in 1854 and was immortalised in the Tennyson poem, the RMSM and its Museum of Army Music has been based in Whitton, west London, since 1857. But the MoD announced in January that the Grade II military headquarters was one of 12 sites due to be sold.

Now Brompton Barracks has been confirmed as one of two potential new homes for the school, alongside Gibraltar Barracks at Minley, in Hampshire.

Col Liz Seymour, head of infrastructure at Brompton Barracks, said an assessment would be carried out by the MoD on the two locations.

She expected the final decision to be made in a few months. “They will decide which is the best location from an infrastructure and training perspective,” she said.

“Our involvement is to show them what our location here has to offer – what new buildings might be needed and what facilities we have that are spare.

“It’s good for Chatham because this is a fixed location that isn’t in the firing line, and the more organisations we have here, the more of a fixture we become.

“They would bring with them their museum and their history.”

The matter of the school’s history makes the move a contentious subject, and Twickenham MP Tania Mathias has been leading an impassioned appeal to save Kneller Hall from development and keep the school in its traditional home.

Reports quoted her as saying: “It’s tragic and extraordinary that in peace time the MoD has managed to create such hostility in a peace-loving community.”

But future students can take some comfort from the fact the historic school has its roots in discord.

It was formed after Queen Victoria’s cousin Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, attended a parade in Turkey during the Crimean War to celebrate the Queen’s birthday – and 20 British Army bands started playing the God Save the Queen in different arrangements, pitches and key signatures.

The answer was to standardise army music and set up a school to teach it.

The RMSM continues to train musicians for the British Army’s 22 bands, as part of the Corps of Army Music, but these days the music taught is not restricted to martial music – it also includes jazz, swing, mainstream, baroque, and other classical styles.

The school is open to men and women, and the commitment to the Army is for a minimum of four years. The Museum of Army Music features a collection of instruments, banners, uniforms, manuscripts and other artefacts from the history of military music