Thomas Hamilton

Thomas Watt Hamilton - who was born on May 10th, 1952, in Glasgow, Scotland - was a Scottish youth-club leader, shopkeeper, and mass-murderer, who shot dead seventeen people in the small town of Dunblane in 1996.  Hamilton's mother, Agnes Graham Hamilton, a chambermaid, was divorced from her husband, Thomas Watt, by the time Hamilton was born.  He never knew his father, and grew up with his mother's adoptive parents, believing they were his biological parents; they legally adopted him at the age of two.  He also thought that his mother was his biological sister, until he was told the truth when he was twenty-two.  At the age of eleven, Hamilton moved with his adoptive parents from Glasgow to Stirling.  As a teenager, he joined a rifle club and the Boys' Brigade.  He obtained a number of 'O'-Levels, and then attended college, becoming an apprentice draughtsman in 1968.  In 1972, Hamilton opened a D.I.Y. shop in Stirling, which he ran for thirteen years.  By then a Venture Scout himself, in July of 1973, Hamilton was appointed as Assistant Scout Leader of the 4th / 6th Stirling Troop.  Later that year, he was seconded to be leader of the revived 24th Stirlingshire Scout Troop.  However, concerns soon emerged regarding Hamilton's behaviour, including complaints of Scouts being forced to sleep in close proximity to Hamilton in his van during hill-walking expeditions.  In May of 1974, Hamilton's Scout Warrant was withdrawn, and he was blacklisted by the Association, with the County Commissioner saying that he was "suspicious of his moral intentions towards boys".  In February, 1977, he requested that the Scout Association hold a Committee of Inquiry into his complaint that he had been victimised, but the request was denied.  Hamilton persistently maintained that the Scouts had ruined his reputation by dismissing him, and that their actions were linked with those of other organisations such as the police.  From the late 1970s, Hamilton became increasingly involved in running boys' clubs, and he set up and organised fifteen of these from February, 1981, until his death.  Once again, there were many complaints about Hamilton's behaviour towards the boys, including that he was photographing and videoing them without their parents' permission.  In 1993, his shop business failed, which he blamed on the rumours circulating about his behaviour.  By 1995, Hamilton's boys' clubs were also in decline, partially due to dwindling attendance, as parents were reluctant to put their boys in his charge.  At this time, however, his interest in firearms was rekindled, and he purchased 1,700 rounds of 9mm and 500 rounds of .357 ammunition between September, 1995, and January, 1996.  He also bought a 9mm Browning pistol, and a .357 Smith and Wesson revolver, and began practicing regularly at the Stirling Rifle and Pistol Club.  In early 1996, several acquaintances described Hamilton as appearing depressed.  At around 9.30 a.m. on March 13th, 1996, Hamilton arrived in his van at Dunblane Primary School, immediately severing the cables on a telegraph pole which served local houses.  He then entered the school carrying four legally-held handguns.  During the next three to four minutes, Hamilton shot dead sixteen pupils and one teacher, injuring fifteen others.  He then committed suicide by shooting himself in the roof of the mouth.  The event, which became known as the Dunblane Massacre, was the deadliest mass-shooting in British criminal history, and led to the banning in Great Britain of all privately-owned handguns.  Thomas Hamilton, who was never married and had no children, was 43 years old.