Beating Retreat
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Beating Retreat
The beating or sounding of Retreat has its origins in the sixteenth century when it was possibly the same ceremony as Tattoo, ' ye retrete to beat att 9 att night and take it from ye garde'. A book of 1598 says 'ye Drumme Major will advertise (by beate of Drum) those require for watch'. In the seventeenth century the Drummers are 'to beate the Retreat through the large street and to be answered by all drummers of ye Gardes'. In 1727 'half an hour before the setting of the sun the Drummers and Port-Guards are to go upon the ramparts and beat a Retreat to give notice to those without that the gates are to be shut. The Drummers will not take more than a quarter of an hour to beat Retreat'.
The modern method of beating Retreat is not unlike the eighteenth century procedure. Nowadays the ceremony, usually at sunset, denotes the end of the working day and heralds the mounting of the Guard.
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