Commemoration

Sounding the Last Post

The Last Post is one of a number of bugle calls in military tradition that mark the phases of the day. While Reveille signaled the start of a soldier's day, the Last Post signaled its end.

The call is believed originally to have been part of a more elaborate routine, known in the British Army as "tattoo", that had its origins in the 17th century. In the evening, a duty officer had to do the rounds of his unit's position, checking that the sentry posts were manned and rounding up the off-duty soldiers and packing them off to their beds or billets. He would be accompanied by one or more musicians. The first post was sounded when the duty officer started his rounds and, as the party proceeded from post to post, a drum was played. The drum beats told off-duty soldiers it was time to rest; if the soldiers were billeted in a town, the beats told them it was time to quit the pubs. "Tattoo" is a derivation of doe den tap toe, Dutch for "turn off the taps", a call which is said to have followed the drum beats in Dutch pubs while British armies were campaigning through Holland and Flanders in the 1690s. (The American practice of "taps" or "drum taps" also originated from the routine.) Another bugle call was sounded when the party completed its rounds, reaching the "last post" – this signaled the night sentries were alert at their posts and gave one last warning to any soldiers still at large to retire for the evening.

The Last Post was eventually incorporated into funeral and memorial services as a final farewell, and symbolises the duty of the dead is over and they can rest in peace.

Sounding the Last Post, Braidwood, 1999.
AWM 1999/75/25

Listen to the bugle call of the Last Post in QuickTime 4 format (305Kb file). Get the QuickTime 4 plug-in.