One O'Clock Gun

History of the Nelson Monument time ball

	1772 Captain Cook circumnavigates the world using a chronometer based on John Harrison's design. Drawing of HMS Resolution		1809 The world famous clockmaking firm Messrs. James Ritchie opens for business in Leith.
	1818 The observatory on the Calton Hill opens officially.		1829 Portsmouth experimental time ball set up. Drawing of Portsmouth experimental time.
	1833 Time ball set up at Greenwich Observatory. The East India Company decides to set up time balls along its trade routes.		1840 Alexander Bain invents the electric clock.
	1846 Edinburgh banker John Hewat sees a miniature time gun being fired during a business trip to Paris.		1852 Time ball set up on the Nelson Monument, Edinburgh. Ritchies design and supply the electric clock.

History of the One o'clock Gun

	1861 One o'clock Gun set up at Edinburgh Castle. Colour drawings - Riggers setting up cable - Firing procedure - The Half Moon Battery Edinburgh Castle 1882		1863 Time guns set up at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, North Shields and South Shields.
	1872 Dundee time gun set up.		1896 Royal Observatory opens on Blackford Hill. Time Circuit, One o'clock Gun
	1913 32 pounder installed as One o'clock Gun		1923 18 pounder field gun replaces 32 pounder in July
	1941 18 pounder field gun sent to Bute to be used as an anti-tank weapon. Found to be impractical the gun is soon withdrawn from service. The One o'clock Gun resumed firing four years later.		1952 25 pounder replaces 18 pounder field gun in May. Time gun moved to Mills Mount Battery in 1971 and the clock withdrawn from service.
	2001 105mm Light Gun replaces 25 pounder in November.

World History

You can also view a selection of images from around the globe in our World History of Time Guns & Time Balls section.

Illustrated in part by JohnThomson and photographs supplied from around the globe.