| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The US equivalent is a Federal Holiday.
It has been noted (for example in an essay published by the Fabian Society) that the number of holidays in the UK is relatively small compared to the number in many other European countries.
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: Good Friday, 1st May, 1st November, and Christmas Day.
In 1871, the first legislation relating to bank holidays was passed when Sir John Lubbock introduced the Bank Holiday Act 1871 which specified the days as in the following table. Scotland was treated separately because of its separate traditions; for instance, New Year or Hogmanay is a more important holiday there.
| England, Wales, Ireland | Scotland |
|---|---|
| New Year's Day | |
| Good Friday | |
| Easter Monday | |
| Whit Monday | First Monday in May |
| First Monday in August | First Monday in August |
| Boxing Day | Christmas Day |
Note that Good Friday and Christmas Day were not specified for England, Wales and Ireland because they were already recognized as common-law holidays there.
In 1903, the Bank Holiday (Ireland) Act added 17th March, Saint Patrick's Day, as a bank holiday for Ireland only.
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; also listed are two additional bank holidays introduced since 1971, which are deemed bank holidays by the legal device of a royal proclamation every year. This same device is also routinely used to shift bank holidays that would otherwise fall on a weekend. (This is why diaries often have to resort to the phrase 'subject to confirmation' since theoretically there might not be such a royal proclamation.) The two additional days now routinely added since 1971 are New Year's Day and the Early May Bank Holiday (except in Scotland, where they are the Spring Bank Holiday and Boxing Day).
| Date | Name |
|---|---|
| 1 January | New Year's Day |
| 2 January | ( Scotland only) |
| 17 March | St Patrick's Day ( Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is the smallest of the Home Nations of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland lies in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It covers 14,139 square kilometres (5,459 square miles), and has a populati only) |
| The Friday before Easter Sunday | Good FridayGood Friday is a special day celebrated by Christians on the Friday before Easter or Pascha. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Special prayer services are often held on this day with readings from the Gospel accounts of the events leading u |
| The day after Easter Sunday | Easter MondayEaster Monday is a Christian holiday celebrated the next day after Easter Sunday. Celebration events include egg rolling competitions and dousing other people with water which, at one time, was holy water used to bless the house and food. Formerly, it was (not Scotland) |
| First Monday in May | Early May Bank Holiday |
| Last Monday in May | Spring Bank Holiday |
| 12 July | Battle of the BoyneFor the context of the dispute see Jacobitism. The Battle of the Boyne was a turning point in the Williamite war in Ireland between the deposed King James VII of Scotland and II of England and his son-in-law and successor, William, for the English, Scotti - Orangemen's Day ( Northern Ireland only) |
| First Monday in August | Summer Bank Holiday ( Scotland only) |
| Last Monday in August | Summer Bank Holiday (not Scotland) |
| 25 December | Christmas Day |
| 26 December or 27 December¹ | Boxing Day |
| 31 December | Hogmanay ( Scotland only) |