Dunblane massacre
Encyclopedia
The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide
which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane
on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide
.
On 13 March 1996, unemployed former shopkeeper and former Scout
leader Thomas Hamilton (born Thomas Watt, Jr. 10 May 1952) walked into the Dunblane Primary School armed with two 9 mm Browning HP
pistol
s and two Smith & Wesson
.357 Magnum
revolver
s, all legally held. He was carrying 743 cartridges, and fired his weapons 109 times. The subsequent police investigation revealed that Hamilton had loaded the magazines for his Browning with an alternating combination of full-metal-jacket
and hollow-point ammunition.
After gaining entry to the school, Hamilton made his way to the gym
nasium and opened fire on a Primary One class of five- and six-year-olds, killing or wounding all but one person. Fifteen children died together with their class teacher, Gwen Mayor, who was killed trying to protect the children. Hamilton then left the gymnasium through the emergency exit. In the playground outside he began shooting into a mobile classroom. A teacher in the mobile classroom had previously realised that something was seriously wrong and told the children to hide under the tables. Most of the bullets became embedded in books and equipment, though "one passed through a chair which seconds before had been used by a child." He also fired at a group of children walking in a corridor, injuring one teacher. Hamilton returned into the gym and with one of his two revolvers fired one shot pointing upwards into his mouth, killing himself instantly. A further eleven children and three adults were rushed to the hospital as soon as the emergency services arrived. One child, Mhairi Isabel MacBeath, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
that Hamilton's interest in boys was paedophilic
with more than one complaint being made regarding him having taken photographs of semi-naked boys without the parents' consent.
Hamilton had been a Scout leader with the 4th/6th Stirling and 24th Stirlingshire troops of the Scout Association
. Several complaints were made about his leadership, notably including two occasions when Scouts were forced to sleep with Hamilton in his van during hill-walking expeditions. Hamilton's Scout Warrant was withdrawn on 13 May 1974, with the County Commissioner stating that he was "suspicious of his moral intentions towards boys".
He claimed in letters that rumours about him led to the failure of his shop business in 1993, and in the last months of his life he complained again that his attempts to organise a boys' club were subject to persecution by local police and the scout movement. Among those to whom he complained were local MP
Michael Forsyth
and Queen Elizabeth. In the 1980s, another MP, George Robertson
, who resided in Dunblane, had complained to Forsyth about Hamilton's local boys' club, which his son had attended. On the day following the massacre, Robertson spoke of having argued with Hamilton "in my own home".
On 19 March 1996, six days after the massacre, the body of Thomas Hamilton was cremated in private.
. Bereaved families and their friends also initiated a lobbying campaign, named the Snowdrop Petition
(because March is snowdrop
time in Scotland), which gained 705,000 signatures in support, and was successful in pressing Parliament
, and the then-current Conservative
government, into introducing a ban on all cartridge ammunition handguns with the exception of .22 calibre single-shot weapons in England, Scotland and Wales. The campaign was supported by a number of newspapers, including the Sunday Mail
, a Scottish tabloid whose own petition to ban handguns had raised 428,279 signatures within five weeks of the massacre.
The Cullen Inquiry recommended tighter control of handgun ownership as well as other changes in school security and vetting of people working with children under 18. The Home Affairs Select Committee
said that rules governing gun ownership must be changed to prevent people such as Thomas Hamilton from owning weapons. It concluded in 1996 that a ban on handguns would be "panic legislation" and would do little to prevent a repeat of the Dunblane incident. However, because the Hungerford massacre
also involved a legal gun owner killing with his legally held guns, public feeling had turned against private gun ownership.
Following the 1997 General Election
, the Labour
government of Tony Blair
introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
, banning the remaining .22 cartridge handguns in England, Scotland and Wales, and leaving only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns (e.g. "Long-Arms") that fall outside the Home Office Definition of a "Handgun" due to their dimensions. The ban does not affect Northern Ireland
, the Isle of Man
, or the Channel Islands
.
Security in schools, particularly primary schools, was improved in response to the Dunblane massacre and two other violent incidents which occurred at around the same time: The murder of Philip Lawrence
, a head teacher in London, and the wounding of six children and Lisa Potts
, a nursery teacher, at a Wolverhampton
nursery school.
. There were a number of investigations and reports compiled, the exact number and content cannot be verified as they are still unavailable. However, some police involvement with Hamilton is known.
In 1991, following Hamilton's Loch Lomond
summer camp, complaints were made to Central Scotland Police
and were investigated by the Child Protection Unit. Hamilton was reported to the Procurator Fiscal
for consideration of 10 charges, including assault, obstructing police and contravention of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937. No action was taken.
, examines Hamilton's relationship with members of Central Scotland Police
and presents a disturbing alternative account to the events leading up to the massacre. Uttley alleges a major high-level cover-up and calls for a new Public Inquiry to establish the truth. On 1 March 2006 Creation Books released Predicate: The Dunblane Massacre — Ten Years After by Peter Sotos
.
The professional tennis player Andy Murray discussed his recollections of the Dunblane massacre in his autobiography Hitting Back (2008). The victims were mostly children who were in a younger age group class than Murray, but he has discussed his recollections of taking cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but, in his autobiography, Hitting Back, he says that he attended a youth group run by Thomas Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton lifts in her car.
A documentary Dunblane: Remembering our Children (produced by Chameleon Television), which featured many of the parents of the children who had been killed, was broadcast by ITV at the time of the first anniversary.
At the time of the tenth anniversary in March 2006 two documentaries were broadcast. Channel 5 screened Dunblane — a decade on (made by Hanrahan Media) and BBC Scotland showed Remembering Dunblane (made by iwcmedia).
).
, a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
, was held on 9 October 1996.
Dunblane Primary School gymnasium was demolished on 11 April 1996, and replaced by a small garden: a plaque bears the names of the victims. A memorial garden, dedicated at a ceremony on 14 March 1998, was created at the town's cemetery, where most of those who were killed are buried. The central feature of the garden is a fountain designed by Maggie Howart, with the names of the children engraved around it. Stained glass windows in memory of the victims were placed in three local churches, St Blane's and the Church of the Holy Family in Dunblane and the nearby Lecropt
Kirk as well as at the Dunblane Youth and Community Centre. A Clashach standing stone was later erected in Dunblane Cathedral. Dunblane Primary School was completely refurbished within a few years after the massacre.
At least three flowers have been named after victims of the shootings. Two rose
s, developed by Cockers of Aberdeen, were named "Gwen Mayor" and "Innocence" in memory of the teacher and the children. A variety of snowdrop
, discovered ten years earlier in the garden of a house close to Dunblane Primary School, has been named after Sophie North.
The National Association of Primary Education commissioned a wooden sculpture, "Flame for Dunblane", created by Walter Bailey, which was placed in the National Forest, England
.
, the musician Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door
" in memory of the Dunblane school children and their teacher. The recording of the revised version of the song, which included brothers and sisters of the victims singing the chorus and Mark Knopfler
on guitar, was released on 9 December 1996 in the UK, and reached number 1. The proceeds went to charities for children.
Australian band The Living End
recorded a song called "Monday", which was released on their self-titled album in 1998. The a capella choral piece, "A CHILD'S PRAYER" was composed in Glasgow during March and April 1996, and copyrighted in 1997 by composer James MacMillan (b. 1959) with a dedication to the "dead of the Dunblane tragedy." It is set to the traditional text: "Welcome Jesu, deep in my soul forever stay, joy and love my heart are filling. On this glad Communion day."
Murder-suicide
A murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more other persons before or at the same time as killing himself or herself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, including:...
which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane
Dunblane
Dunblane is a small cathedral city and former burgh north of Stirling in the Stirling council area of Scotland. The town is situated off the A9 road, on the way north to Perth. Its main landmark is Dunblane Cathedral and the Allan Water runs through the town centre, with the Cathedral and the High...
on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Timeline of events
| Victims |
| 1. Victoria Elizabeth Clydesdale (5) |
| 2. Emma Elizabeth Crozier (5) |
| 3. Melissa Helen Currie (5) |
| 4. Charlotte Louise Dunn (5) |
| 5. Kevin Allan Hasell (5) |
| 6. Ross William Irvine (5) |
| 7. David Charles Kerr (5) |
| 8. Mhairi Isabel MacBeath (5) |
| 9. Brett McKinnon (6) |
| 10. Abigail Joanne McLennan (5) |
| 11. Gwen Mayor (45) —Primary School Teacher |
| 12. Emily Morton (5) |
| 13. Sophie Jane Lockwood North (5) |
| 14. John Petrie (5) |
| 15. Joanna Caroline Ross (5) |
| 16. Hannah Louise Scott (5) |
| 17. Megan Turner (5) |
| Perpetrator (suicide) |
| 1. Thomas Hamilton (43) |
On 13 March 1996, unemployed former shopkeeper and former Scout
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
leader Thomas Hamilton (born Thomas Watt, Jr. 10 May 1952) walked into the Dunblane Primary School armed with two 9 mm Browning HP
Browning Hi-Power
The Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. It is based on a design by American firearms inventor John Browning, and completed by Dieudonné Saive at Fabrique Nationale of Herstal, Belgium. Browning died in 1926, several years before the design was finalized...
pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
s and two Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
.357 Magnum
.357 Magnum
The .357 S&W Magnum , or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
s, all legally held. He was carrying 743 cartridges, and fired his weapons 109 times. The subsequent police investigation revealed that Hamilton had loaded the magazines for his Browning with an alternating combination of full-metal-jacket
Full metal jacket bullet
A full metal jacket is a bullet consisting of a soft core encased in a shell of harder metal, such as gilding metal, cupronickel or less commonly a steel alloy. This shell can extend around all of the bullet, or often just the front and sides with the rear left as exposed lead...
and hollow-point ammunition.
After gaining entry to the school, Hamilton made his way to the gym
Gym
The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, that mean a locality for both physical and intellectual education of young men...
nasium and opened fire on a Primary One class of five- and six-year-olds, killing or wounding all but one person. Fifteen children died together with their class teacher, Gwen Mayor, who was killed trying to protect the children. Hamilton then left the gymnasium through the emergency exit. In the playground outside he began shooting into a mobile classroom. A teacher in the mobile classroom had previously realised that something was seriously wrong and told the children to hide under the tables. Most of the bullets became embedded in books and equipment, though "one passed through a chair which seconds before had been used by a child." He also fired at a group of children walking in a corridor, injuring one teacher. Hamilton returned into the gym and with one of his two revolvers fired one shot pointing upwards into his mouth, killing himself instantly. A further eleven children and three adults were rushed to the hospital as soon as the emergency services arrived. One child, Mhairi Isabel MacBeath, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Possible motives
Hamilton's motives remain unknown, though there were complaints to police regarding his suspicious behaviour towards the young boys who attended the youth clubs he directed. There were suspicions before the massacreMassacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
that Hamilton's interest in boys was paedophilic
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
with more than one complaint being made regarding him having taken photographs of semi-naked boys without the parents' consent.
Hamilton had been a Scout leader with the 4th/6th Stirling and 24th Stirlingshire troops of the Scout Association
The Scout Association
The Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell. The Scout Association was formed under its previous name, The Boy Scout Association, in 1910 by the grant...
. Several complaints were made about his leadership, notably including two occasions when Scouts were forced to sleep with Hamilton in his van during hill-walking expeditions. Hamilton's Scout Warrant was withdrawn on 13 May 1974, with the County Commissioner stating that he was "suspicious of his moral intentions towards boys".
He claimed in letters that rumours about him led to the failure of his shop business in 1993, and in the last months of his life he complained again that his attempts to organise a boys' club were subject to persecution by local police and the scout movement. Among those to whom he complained were local MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Michael Forsyth
Michael Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean
Michael Bruce Forsyth, Baron Forsyth of Drumlean PC, Kt is a British financier and politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Stirling from 1983 to 1997 and served in the cabinet of John Major as Secretary of State for Scotland from 1995 to 1997...
and Queen Elizabeth. In the 1980s, another MP, George Robertson
George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen
George Islay MacNeill Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, is a British Labour Party politician who was the tenth Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, between October 1999 and early January 2004; he succeeded Javier Solana in that position...
, who resided in Dunblane, had complained to Forsyth about Hamilton's local boys' club, which his son had attended. On the day following the massacre, Robertson spoke of having argued with Hamilton "in my own home".
On 19 March 1996, six days after the massacre, the body of Thomas Hamilton was cremated in private.
Gun control
The Gun Control Network founded in the aftermath of the shootings was supported by some parents of victims at Dunblane and of the Hungerford MassacreHungerford massacre
The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 19 August 1987. The gunman, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself...
. Bereaved families and their friends also initiated a lobbying campaign, named the Snowdrop Petition
Snowdrop Petition
The Snowdrop Campaign was founded after the Dunblane Massacre in March 1996 to call for a total ban on the private ownership and use of handguns in the United Kingdom...
(because March is snowdrop
Snowdrop
Galanthus is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae...
time in Scotland), which gained 705,000 signatures in support, and was successful in pressing Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, and the then-current Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government, into introducing a ban on all cartridge ammunition handguns with the exception of .22 calibre single-shot weapons in England, Scotland and Wales. The campaign was supported by a number of newspapers, including the Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail (Scotland)
The Sunday Mail is a Scottish tabloid newspaper published every Sunday. It is the sister paper of the Daily Record and is owned by Trinity Mirror and as such has a left-wing outlook which in turn tends to guide Scottish political debate in that direction.The Sunday Mail is read by over one million...
, a Scottish tabloid whose own petition to ban handguns had raised 428,279 signatures within five weeks of the massacre.
The Cullen Inquiry recommended tighter control of handgun ownership as well as other changes in school security and vetting of people working with children under 18. The Home Affairs Select Committee
Home Affairs Select Committee
The Home Affairs Select Committee is a Committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Remit:The Home Affairs Committee is one of the House of Commons Select Committees related to government departments: its terms of reference are to examine "the expenditure,...
said that rules governing gun ownership must be changed to prevent people such as Thomas Hamilton from owning weapons. It concluded in 1996 that a ban on handguns would be "panic legislation" and would do little to prevent a repeat of the Dunblane incident. However, because the Hungerford massacre
Hungerford massacre
The Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 19 August 1987. The gunman, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself...
also involved a legal gun owner killing with his legally held guns, public feeling had turned against private gun ownership.
Following the 1997 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, the Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government of Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
introduced the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997
-Reaction to the ban:The pistol ban makes very few exceptions for people to own a cartridge handgun legally. This has resulted in the near complete cessation of recreational and competitive target shooting with handguns in Great Britain; Britons who wish to participate in these activities must now...
, banning the remaining .22 cartridge handguns in England, Scotland and Wales, and leaving only muzzle-loading and historic handguns legal, as well as certain sporting handguns (e.g. "Long-Arms") that fall outside the Home Office Definition of a "Handgun" due to their dimensions. The ban does not affect Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, or the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
.
Security in schools, particularly primary schools, was improved in response to the Dunblane massacre and two other violent incidents which occurred at around the same time: The murder of Philip Lawrence
Murder of Philip Lawrence
Philip Ambrose Lawrence QGM, was a London-based headmaster who was stabbed to death outside the gates of his school when he went to the aid of a pupil who was being attacked by a gang.-Biography:...
, a head teacher in London, and the wounding of six children and Lisa Potts
Lisa Potts
Lisa Potts GM is a former nursery teacher noted for saving her school children's lives from a machete attack by a man with severe paranoid schizophrenia on July 8, 1996 at the St Luke's Primary School in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. Her arm was almost severed in the attack...
, a nursery teacher, at a Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
nursery school.
Criticism of police
Prior to the events of 13 March 1996, Hamilton was already well known to Central Scotland PoliceCentral Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire . The headquarters of the force are at Randolphfield House in Stirling....
. There were a number of investigations and reports compiled, the exact number and content cannot be verified as they are still unavailable. However, some police involvement with Hamilton is known.
In 1991, following Hamilton's Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond
Loch Lomond is a freshwater Scottish loch, lying on the Highland Boundary Fault. It is the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area. The lake contains many islands, including Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles, although the lake itself is smaller than many Irish...
summer camp, complaints were made to Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire . The headquarters of the force are at Randolphfield House in Stirling....
and were investigated by the Child Protection Unit. Hamilton was reported to the Procurator Fiscal
Procurator Fiscal
A procurator fiscal is a public prosecutor in Scotland. They investigate all sudden and suspicious deaths in Scotland , conduct Fatal Accident Inquiries and handle criminal complaints against the police A procurator fiscal (pl. procurators fiscal) is a public prosecutor in Scotland. They...
for consideration of 10 charges, including assault, obstructing police and contravention of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937. No action was taken.
Books
Two books - Dunblane: Our Year of Tears by Peter Samson and Alan Crow (Mainstream, 1996) and Dunblane: Never Forget by Mick North (Mainstream, 2000) - both give accounts of the massacre from the perspective of those most directly affected. Another book, Dunblane Unburied by Sandra Uttley (Book Publishing World 2006), whose publication was funded by a shooters' organisation, the Sportsman's AssociationSportsman's Association
-History:The Sportsman's Association was formed in 1996 to campaign for the right of sports shooters to own handguns. This was limited following the Dunblane Massacre when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and their teacher using legally-held pistols....
, examines Hamilton's relationship with members of Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police
Central Scotland Police is the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Stirling, Falkirk and Clackmannanshire . The headquarters of the force are at Randolphfield House in Stirling....
and presents a disturbing alternative account to the events leading up to the massacre. Uttley alleges a major high-level cover-up and calls for a new Public Inquiry to establish the truth. On 1 March 2006 Creation Books released Predicate: The Dunblane Massacre — Ten Years After by Peter Sotos
Peter Sotos
Peter Sotos is a Chicago-born writer and musician. In his books, Sotos examines sadistic sexual criminals and sexually violent pornography, particularly involving children. His writings are interpreted by some as commenting on media hypocrisy around these issues...
.
The professional tennis player Andy Murray discussed his recollections of the Dunblane massacre in his autobiography Hitting Back (2008). The victims were mostly children who were in a younger age group class than Murray, but he has discussed his recollections of taking cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but, in his autobiography, Hitting Back, he says that he attended a youth group run by Thomas Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton lifts in her car.
Television
On the Sunday following the shootings the morning service from Dunblane Cathedral, conducted by Rev. Colin MacIntosh, was broadcast live by the BBC. The BBC also had live transmission of the Memorial Service on 9 October 1996, also held at Dunblane Cathedral.A documentary Dunblane: Remembering our Children (produced by Chameleon Television), which featured many of the parents of the children who had been killed, was broadcast by ITV at the time of the first anniversary.
At the time of the tenth anniversary in March 2006 two documentaries were broadcast. Channel 5 screened Dunblane — a decade on (made by Hanrahan Media) and BBC Scotland showed Remembering Dunblane (made by iwcmedia).
Newspapers
In 2009, the Sunday Express came under some criticism for its coverage of the survivors of the massacre (see Sunday Express Dunblane controversySunday Express Dunblane controversy
The Sunday Express Dunblane controversy began on Sunday 8 March 2009, when the Scottish edition of the Sunday Express newspaper published a front page article by Paula Murray, "Anniversary Shame of Dunblane Survivors", critical of survivors of the Dunblane massacre, by then aged 18 and 19, for...
).
Memorials
A memorial service conducted by James WhyteJames Aitken Whyte
James Aitken Whyte was a leading Scottish theologian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.-Biography:...
, a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The Moderator of the General Assembly of Church of Scotland is a Minister, Elder or Deacon of the Church of Scotland chosen to "moderate" the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every May....
, was held on 9 October 1996.
Dunblane Primary School gymnasium was demolished on 11 April 1996, and replaced by a small garden: a plaque bears the names of the victims. A memorial garden, dedicated at a ceremony on 14 March 1998, was created at the town's cemetery, where most of those who were killed are buried. The central feature of the garden is a fountain designed by Maggie Howart, with the names of the children engraved around it. Stained glass windows in memory of the victims were placed in three local churches, St Blane's and the Church of the Holy Family in Dunblane and the nearby Lecropt
Lecropt
Lecropt is a rural parish lying to the west of Bridge of Allan, Scotland.The population of the parish of Lecropt is estimated to be around 75, consisting entirely of isolated farms and houses, as well as the Keir Estate owned by the landed Stirling family...
Kirk as well as at the Dunblane Youth and Community Centre. A Clashach standing stone was later erected in Dunblane Cathedral. Dunblane Primary School was completely refurbished within a few years after the massacre.
At least three flowers have been named after victims of the shootings. Two rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s, developed by Cockers of Aberdeen, were named "Gwen Mayor" and "Innocence" in memory of the teacher and the children. A variety of snowdrop
Snowdrop
Galanthus is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae...
, discovered ten years earlier in the garden of a house close to Dunblane Primary School, has been named after Sophie North.
The National Association of Primary Education commissioned a wooden sculpture, "Flame for Dunblane", created by Walter Bailey, which was placed in the National Forest, England
National Forest, England
The National Forest is one of England’s most ambitious environmental projects. Across parts of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire, are being transformed, blending ancient woodland with new planting to create a new national forest...
.
Musical tributes
With the consent of Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, the musician Ted Christopher wrote a new verse for "Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.-Story line and song structure:...
" in memory of the Dunblane school children and their teacher. The recording of the revised version of the song, which included brothers and sisters of the victims singing the chorus and Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
on guitar, was released on 9 December 1996 in the UK, and reached number 1. The proceeds went to charities for children.
Australian band The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
recorded a song called "Monday", which was released on their self-titled album in 1998. The a capella choral piece, "A CHILD'S PRAYER" was composed in Glasgow during March and April 1996, and copyrighted in 1997 by composer James MacMillan (b. 1959) with a dedication to the "dead of the Dunblane tragedy." It is set to the traditional text: "Welcome Jesu, deep in my soul forever stay, joy and love my heart are filling. On this glad Communion day."
See also
- School massacreSchool massacreA school shooting is an incident in which gun violence occurs at an educational institution.-Definition:The term school shooting most commonly describes acts committed by either a student or intruders from outside the school campus...
- Massacre related lists
- List of massacres in the United Kingdom
- List of school massacres
- Similar shootings in the United Kingdom
- Hungerford massacreHungerford massacreThe Hungerford massacre occurred in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, on 19 August 1987. The gunman, 27-year-old Michael Robert Ryan, armed with two semi-automatic rifles and a handgun, shot and killed sixteen people including his mother, and wounded fifteen others, then fatally shot himself...
(1987) - Monkseaton shootingsMonkseaton shootingsThe Monkseaton shootings occurred on 30 April 1989 in Monkseaton, North Tyneside when Robert Sartin killed one man and left fourteen other people injured during a twenty-minute shooting spree....
(1989) - Cumbria shootingsCumbria shootingsThe Cumbria shootings was a killing spree that occurred on 2 June 2010 when a lone gunman, Derrick Bird, killed 12 people and injured 11 others before killing himself in Cumbria, England....
(2010)
- Hungerford massacre
Further reading
- Mick North, Dunblane: never forget, (Mainstream, 2000) ISBN 1-840183-00-4
- Pam Rhodes, Coming through: true stories of hope and courage, (Pan, 2002) ISBN 0-330486-91-8
- Peter Samson and Alan Crow, Dunblane: our year of tears, (Mainstream, 1997) ISBN 1-851589-75-9
- Peter Squires, Gun culture or gun control? : firearms, violence and society , (Routledge, 2000) ISBN 0-415170-86-9
- Sandra Uttley, Dunblane Unburied, (BookPublishingWorld, 2006) ISBN 1-905553-05-6.
- P. Whitbread, "Media Liaison: The Lessons from Dunblane" in Shirley Harrison (ed.), Disasters and the media: managing crisis communications, (Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 0-333717-85-6
External links
- BBC News / Scotland
- The Observer
- The Scotsman
- The final report of The Cullen Inquiry
- The transcript of the 1996 Cullen Inquiry into the Dunblane Massacre Prohibition of weapons and ammunition and control of small-calibre pistols Prohibition of small calibre pistols
- After Dunblane Gun Control in the UK 1996-2001 (PDF)
- BBC Order lifted on Dunblane papers
- Dunblane papers released
- A Timeline of the Massacre
- Dunblane Unburied
- Extensive description of the Dunblane massacre from CourtTV
- Dunblane Massacre - A description on the incident by the Guardian
- Massacre in Dunblane school gym - A report on the incident by the BBC on this day.