Bank Holiday Mondays – A History

So, tomorrow is Bank Holiday Monday, and that got me thinking, what is a Bank Holiday and how did they come to be?

From Wikipedia

A Bank Holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom and also in the Republic of Ireland. Although there is no legal right to time off on these days, the majority of the population not employed in essential services (e.g. utilities, fire, ambulance, police, health-workers) receive them as holidays; those employed in essential services usually receive extra pay for working on these days. Bank holidays are so called because they are days upon which banks are (or were) shut and therefore (traditionally) no other businesses could operate.
Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed about thirty-three saints’ days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834, this was drastically reduced to just four: 1 May, 1 November, Good Friday, and Christmas Day.
It was then not until exactly a century after the 1871 Act that the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 was passed; it is still in effect today. The table below details the bank holidays specified in the 1971 Act;

Date	Name
1 January	New Year’s Day
2 January	2nd January
17 March	St Patrick’s Day
The Friday before Easter Sunday	Good Friday
The day after Easter Sunday	Easter Monday
First Monday in May¹	May Day Bank Holiday (or Early May Bank Holiday in Scotland)
Last Monday in May²	Spring Bank Holiday (Whitsun)
First Monday In June	June Bank Holiday
12 July	Battle of the Boyne – Orangemen’s Day
First Monday in August	Summer Bank Holiday
Last Monday in August	Summer Bank Holiday
Last Monday in October	October Bank Holiday
25 December	Christmas Day
26 December or 27 December ³

So, there you go! Another thing you now know thanks to Wikipedia!

Bye for now,
Andrew

abooth77@gmail.com

P.S. Welcome to our new blogger, LIM!