Unlike the first official firing

Unlike the first official firing of the One o’ Clock Gun 150 years ago, the re-enactment last Saturday went like clockwork. The eighteen pounder fired at the specified time although the rain was coming down like stair rods as it did at the ‘Wet Review’ twenty years later.

Professor John Brown the Astronomer Royal for Scotland was on the Half Moon Battery along with Professor Charles Piazzi Smyth who entertained the guests assisted by Mark Smith the curator of Firepower with a presentation on the working of the time-ball.

Colonel Douglas Foulis who was in charge of the R.A. Battery which marked the 100th anniversary of the time-gun was also present.

The daily time signal was fired from the Half Moon Battery by the District Gunner, Sergeant Shannon.

During their speeches both the Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh and Ruth Parsons, Chief Executive of Historic Scotland underlined the importance of the One o’ Clock Gun to the city’s image, while Colonel Donald Cameron representing the Royal Artillery Council for Scotland was kind enough to mention the role of the One o’Clock Gun & Time Ball Association in preserving the time-gun’s history.

The silver model of the present One o’ Clock Gun presented by Lieutenant Colonel Huthwaite the Commanding Officer of 105th Regt RA (V) to Brian McKenzie the Association’s Chairman will go on display at the City Chambers for a period of four weeks.

Photograph by courtesy of Jez Curnow.
.