Long Weekends: Bank Holidays

Bank holidays are national public holidays that take place in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The secular holiday is a relatively recent invention. It began with the Bank Holiday Act of 1871, which established a day off exclusively for banks.

BEFORE THE BILL

In the early 19th century the Bank of England had about forty holidays a year celebrating saints’ days, Christian festivities or royal occasions. In 1830, however, it was decided that this was simply too many: the number of holidays was slashed to eighteen days, and three years later cut again to just four: Good Friday, 1 May, 1 November, and Christmas Day. Factory workers, however, enjoyed more days off, as a trend for local holidays had spread after the Industrial Revolution began in the 1760s. On a local holiday, all the factories in the town closed at once, saving on running costs, but with the standardisation of paid holidays and school holidays, and the decline in the manufacturing industry, local holidays began to disappear too.

LUBBOCK’S BILL

In 1871, it was decided that a regulation of bank holidays was needed. The man in charge of drafting the Bank Holiday Bill was Sir John Lubbock, the first Baron of Avebury and a prominent banker and politician. The act, which became law, established four bank holidays for England, Wales and Ireland (which was under British rule), and five for Scotland. It also made it lawful for any day to be officially proclaimed a bank holiday, a decision that would cover future holiday-deserving events. The law made it clear that all financial dealings would be postponed until the day after the bank holiday, and that no penalties would be applied for those delayed transactions. Initially, the Bank Holiday Bill only affected banks and financial institutions, but over the years businesses, schools and government institutions joined in.

POP-UP BANK HOLIDAYS

In 1971, a hundred years after the passing of the bill, some new bank holidays were created. Nowadays, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies enjoy between eight and ten bank holidays a year. The dates of most of the holidays vary, since they always fall on a Monday. In 2023 there was an extra bank holiday called on 8 May to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III.