Bank holiday

A bank holiday is a public holiday in both the United Kingdom and Ireland. There is some automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population not employed in essential services (e.g. utilities, fire, ambulance, police, health-care workers, London Underground) receive them as holidays; those employed in essential services usually receive extra pay for working on these days. Bank holidays are often assumed to be so called because they are days upon which banks are shut, but this is not in fact the case. Some of the assumed bank holidays are days on which the banks are shut but are not, in fact, a bank holiday (e.g. Good Friday and Christmas Day). Legislation does not allow certain payments to be deferred to the working day.

History of bank holidays

Prior to 1834, the Bank of England observed about thirty-three saints' days and religious festivals as holidays, but in 1834, this was reduced to just four: 1 May, 1 November, Good Friday, and Christmas day.
In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holidays Act 1871 which specified the days in the table set out below. Sir John was an enthusiastic supporter of cricket and was firmly of the belief that bank employees should have the opportunity to participate in and attend matches when they were scheduled. Included in the dates of bank holidays are therefore dates when cricket games were traditionally played between the villages in the region where Sir John was raised. The English people were so thankful that they called the first Bank Holidays 'St. Lubbock's Days' for awhile. Scotland was treated separately because of its separate traditions; for example, New Year is a more important holiday there.
The act does not specify Good Friday and Christmas Day as bank holidays in England,Wales and Ireland because they were already recognised as common law holidays, and because of common observance, they became customary holidays since before records began.
In 1903, the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act added 17 March saint Patrick's Day as a bank holiday for Ireland only.

From date of the August bank holiday was changed to the end of the month. Curiously, there were a few years (eg 1868) when this holiday fell in September, but this no longer occurs - presumably reflecting a change in the way of defining the relevant day. The Whitsun bank holiday (Whit Monday) was replaced by the Late Spring Bank Holiday - fixed as the last Monday in May - in 1971.