Who is August Bank?

And why does he (or she) have a holiday named after him (her)? That was a question posed by my Californian friend with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. So [sigh] here comes the history lesson.

It all began way, way before my time. Even before Skip's time. But not quite before we here in the UK had managed to shake off those pesky colonials. Back in the early 19th century - yes, nearly 200 years ago - the Bank of England had been getting out of hand and closing its doors on too many occasions. So Parliament decided to Act. And that's just what they did: the passed an Act of Parliament limited to just four the days in the year on which the Bank of England could close (in addition to Sundays, of course). That was in 1834. I have as yet not managed to find out just which days were those four but i suspect they were Easter Monday, Whit Monday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. These four days, perhaps not surprisingly, became known as bank holidays as that was when the Bank was on holiday. Simples!

As time went by, other businesses started copying the B of E and closing their doors on bank holidays.

That was the situation until 1871 when a new act of Parliament was passed, the Bank Holiday Act 1871.

Now here I must confess to being somewhat bemused as well as confused. You see, what I have posted above is a summary of what appears in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable under the heading "bank holiday". But according to Wikipedia, it was the 1871 Act which restricted bank holidays to just four in England and Wales and five in Scotland. Those four days were Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August (August bank holiday) and Boxing Day. Apparently Good Friday and Christmas Day were already recognised as holidays under common law so they are not bank holidays at all but are really public holidays.

Anyway, in 1971 two more holidays were introduced in the Banking and Financial Dealings Act: New Year's Day and May Day (this is nowadays celebrated on the first Monday in May). The Whit Monday holiday was cancelled and replaced with the Late Spring Bank Holiday on the last Monday in May. The August Bank Holiday had already (in 1965) to the end of the month.

(Surprisingly perhaps, one of the best sites for information about English traditions and customs is Woodlands Junior School.)