August Bank Holiday

Creation

The holiday was one of four created by the Bank Holidays Act 1871 (along with Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Boxing Day), being the only one which was not linked to an Anglican religious festival. The act was introduced by Liberal politician Sir John Lubbock.

Lubbock argued that the act was passed with relative ease because of the naming as a 'bank' holiday, with those who might have opposed it thinking it only applied to banks.

Move to end of August

In 1964, an experimental move to the end of August was announced by the Secretary of State for Industry, Trade and Regional Development, Edward Heath, taking effect for two years from 1965, responding to pressure from the holiday industry to extend the season. The move applied to England and Wales, but not to Scotland.

There was consultation on other methods of staggering holidays and reducing congestion related to this. Other suggestions included staggering school holidays by region, and introducing a four-term school year.

Following the two year trial, each year's date was announced in Parliament on an ad hoc basis, causing problems for publishers of the calendars and diaries. The rule seems to have been to select the weekend of the last Saturday in August, so that in 1968 and 1969 Bank Holiday Monday actually fell in September, causing concern amongst some politicians.

The date was settled in statute with the passage of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, which remains in force today, with the date specified as "the last Monday in August".

Proposed changes

In 2014, a Private member's bill was introduced by Conservative MP Peter Bone to rename the holiday as Margaret Thatcher day, in honour of the late Prime Minister, but the bill failed to progress past the first reading.

References

References

1. (2024-08-26). "UK bank holidays".
2. "History of Bank & Public Holidays". Department for Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.
3. (21 February 1871). "Bank Holidays Bill".
4. Lapthorne, Bill. (24 June 1977). "Castle Housed Servants". East Kent Times and Mail.
5. (24 April 1962). "Why not scrap Bank Holidays?". Liverpool Echo.
6. (4 March 1964). "New Date for August Bank Hoilday". Liverpool Echo.
7. (30 December 1964). "August Bank Holiday". Herald Express.
8. (5 Mar 1964). "Bank Holiday On The Last Monday In August". [[The Times]].
9. (6 March 1964). "S.W. plea to end 'August Bank Hoiday'". Somerset Standard.
10. (27 January 1967). "1969 Dilemma on Diary Dates". [[The Times]].
11. (4 June 1965). "Bank Holiday Dates For 1967 And 1968". [[The Times]].
12. (22 March 1967). "1969 Bank Holidays". [[The Times]].
13. (15 August 1969). "Marldon Apple-Pie Fair". Torbay Express.
14. (16 August 1963). "August Bank Holiday in September?". Spalding Guardian.
15. "Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971: Schedule 1".
16. Cockerton, Paul. (16 July 2013). "Margaret Thatcher Day bank holiday proposed by Tories backed by just one in eight voters". The Mirror.
17. (14 May 2014). "Margaret Thatcher Day Bill".