Bank Holidays - thanks to Sir John Lubbock

It was not until 1871 that British Bank Holidays came into being. They were the result of efforts to give people more leisure time by banker-turned-politician Sir John Lubbock, the first Lord Avebury, who introduced the Bank Holidays Act in parliament. But the British concept has fallen behind a global trend, and now only one country in the world has fewer Bank Holidays than the UK.

In earlier times, Britain had an agrarian rather than industrial economy and numerous "holy" days relating to the Church were the times when people gave work a miss in order to celebrate them. With the arrival of the Protestant Church as the dominant one in England, and then urban industrialisation, the old, often local, traditions of saints' days etc. largely disappeared.

Sir John Lubbock brought back the idea of shared national days off work when he added Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August and Boxing Day to the two 'common law' holidays that already existed - Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Originally, it was just banks and financial buildings that officially closed on these dates, which is where the name “bank holiday” comes from. Gradually, the likes of businesses, shops, schools and the Government also joined in on these holidays.

The Bank Holidays Act was very popular, with the News of the World exclaiming: “Blessings on the head of Sir John Lubbock, who invented a decent excuse for holidays to Englishmen...... Sir John has shown of himself to be an inventor of the highest order, and his great reputation as a man of science has been enhanced by the invention of Bank Holidays.” This was a reference to the books Lubbock wrote on Prehistoric man. He was also an innovative banker, who invented the cheque clearing system.

There are eight Bank holidays a year if you live in England and Wales, nine if you live in Scotland and 10 if you live in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, bank holidays are a devolved issue. This enabled, in 2007, the creation of a ninth bank holiday, St Andrews Day. Northern Ireland also has a proclaimed bank holiday to mark the Battle of Boyne, in addition to St Patrick’s Day which is listed in the 1971 Act.

There are two bank holidays in May - the Early May Bank Holiday, introduced in 1978, occasionally referred to as May Day, and the later Spring Bank Holiday. Late Spring Bank Holiday is always on the last Monday in May. It was introduced in 1971 when the original Bank Holiday Act was repealed and replaced by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act, which remains in force today. This Act moved the Whit Monday holiday to the last Monday in May.

The country with the highest number of public holidays is India, with 21 days. And the only country in the world with fewer public holidays than the UK is Mexico, which has just seven days to England and Wales' eight.

Bank Holidays - thanks to Sir John Lubbock

Further reading