What is the significance of The Last Post?

The Last Post is often heard at military remembrance events. (Picture: Victoria Jones/PA Wire)

Today is Armistice Day – the day the guns fell silent – where we remember those who fell during World War One.

On November 11, 1918, the agreement ending hostilities between Allied forces and Germany was signed in Northern France, taking effect that day, at 11am – ‘the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month’.

The agreement effectively ended four years of bloody warfare, which H.G Wells anointed ‘the war to end war’, though this sadly proved far from the case.

From the wearing of poppies to the two minutes’ silence, both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday (which follows) are marked in several different ways.

Whether attending in person or watching on television, it is common to hear The Last Post at remembrance services.

But what is the significance of the tune, and where does it come from?

Here is everything you need to know.

What is The Last Post?

The Last Post is a fanfare (a short ceremonial tune) that is traditionally played on the bugle.

It usually lasts around a minute and begins with its instantly recognisable, yet haunting, repeats of the ‘Perfect fifth’ interval – (that’s the difference between the notes C to G, when played in that key, for the musically minded).

What is the history of The Last Post?

As you might expect, the origins of The Last Post lie with the military.

The bugle call originally dates from around the late 18th century but initially had very little to do with mourning or remembrance.

It was used by the British Army to signal the end of the working day in a military camp.

After the duty officer did his final rounds, inspecting the various barracks and sentry posts, a bugler would sound the tune to mark their conclusion.

Similarly, the morning would often begin with The Reveille, which marked the start of a soldier’s day.

In times of conflict, The Last Post would also mark the end of fighting.

When did The Last Post become associated with remembrance?

During the mid-19th century, the tune became more associated with mourning and, eventually, remembrance.

At the time, most military musicians were actually civilians and, as such, were under no duty to accompany their regiments when they were posted abroad.

This meant very little music was available for any funeral services for soldiers who died abroad.

This led to the regimental bugler often being charged with sounding The Last Post at the graveside, the symbolism of their watch drawing to a close seeming appropriate.

The tune would eventually be played at the unveiling of memorial monuments and became more closely associated with remembrance.

The Cenotaph is the scene of the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London. (Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)

It is now sounded at many Remembrance Day memorials, perhaps most famously at the televised ceremony at the Cenotaph in London.

In 2021, the tune hit the headlines after a BBC presenter took the controversial decision to talk over the performance.

Arthur Lane was a bugler with the British Army in WW2, who would become known as “the musician to the dead” after being captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore in 1942.

Keeping his instrument with him, he would play The Last Post for any of his comrades who died in the prison camps or working on the notorious Burma Railway.

He kept a record of the names of all his fallen comrades that he played for on a roll of army-issue toilet paper. At the war’s end, it displayed the names of over 3,000 soldiers.

MORE : Remembrance Day 2022: Poems and quotes to pay tribute to Britain’s fallen soldiers

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