Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

Thomas McKay

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(died 17 November 2005), known as "Tam the Gun", was the District Gunner with 105th Regiment Royal Artillery from 1979 until 2005. During that time, McKay was responsible for the daily firing of the

One O'Clock Gun Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on t ...

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

, becoming the longest-serving holder of the post. McKay was born in

Lochgelly Lochgelly ( ; gd, Loch Gheallaidh, IPA: �ɫ̪ɔxˈʝaɫ̪ai is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is located between Loch Ore, Lochs Ore and Gelly to the north-west and south-east respectively. It is separated from Cowdenbeath by the village of ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, and grew up in

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

. He joined 529 Company

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

, part of the Territorial Army. The One O'clock Gun is a

time signal A time signal is a visible, audible, mechanical, or electronic signal used as a reference to determine the time of day. Church bells or voices announcing hours of prayer gave way to automatically operated chimes on public clocks; however, audi ...

, given at 1.00pm Monday to Saturday, and has been operating since 1861. McKay began firing the gun in July 1979, and during his long service became a recognisable Edinburgh character. At that time, the gun was a 25-pound Howitzer, although this was replaced with a

L118 Light Gun The L118 light gun is a 105 mm towed howitzer. It was originally designed and produced in England for the British Army in the 1970s. It has since been widely exported. The L119 and the United States Army's M119 are variants that use a different ...

, brought into service on 30 November 2001, with "Tam the Gun" firing the first round. In 1999, Sergeant McKay was awarded the

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

, for his services to the Territorial Army. Sergeant McKay was instrumental in setting up the One O'Clock Gun exhibition within the castle, obtaining funding from the National Lottery and

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...

. The exhibition, initially temporary but now permanent, explains the origins of Edinburgh's time signals, first established in the 1840s by

Charles Piazzi Smyth Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was an Italian-born British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan ...

, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland. McKay also floated the idea of sponsorship of the One O'clock Gun, in order to secure its future. He undertook fundraising work for the

Army Benevolent Fund ABF The Soldiers' Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund,Third Sector Magazine"Charity rebranding: a change of vision and strategy" ''Third Sector Magazine'', 06/04/10 is the national charity of the British Army. Since 1944, it has provided ...

, and in 2002 published a book of anecdotes and history relating to the gun, entitled, ''What Time Does Edinburgh's One O'clock Gun Fire?'', the proceeds of which went towards the fund. McKay also appeared on

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

's ''

Hogmanay Live ''BBC Scotland's Hogmanay'' is BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English R ...

'' programme, firing the gun to mark the New Year. He continued to fire the gun until his retirement on 27 January 2005. He died at his home in

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

at the age of 60. The name ''Tam the Gun'' was given to a

GNER Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, No ...

Class 91 locomotive, No.91122, in June 2006 in honour of Sergeant McKay. The locomotive was named by his widow in an official ceremony at

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

. The name formerly carried on the locomotive was '' Double Trigger'', and along with the rest of the class, lost the name when

National Express East Coast National Express East Coast (NXEC) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by National Express, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England and ...

took over the franchise.

References

External links

One O'clock Gun Association
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Thomas Scottish soldiers Royal Artillery soldiers Edinburgh Castle People from Lochgelly 2005 deaths Year of birth missing Royal Army Service Corps soldiers