Why is the Whit Bank Holiday not always on Whit Monday?
Bank Holidays cause a lot of political debate in the UK.
Bank Holidays go back to the 1871 Act itself designed to address the annoying habit that Victorian workers had of not turning up to work at the beginning of the week which was called Saint Monday (an extension of Sunday).
The number of holidays and when they took place was fixed for England and Wales (Scotland was different obviously) and that indicated that there was a holiday on Whit Monday (the early May Day holiday didn’t come until the 1970s). Whit Monday is the day after the 7th Sunday after Easter. Easter varies each year and in 2025 the date of Whitsun is June 8th.
The date has been fixed as the last Monday in May since 1971 and it was in temporary place from 1965.
The logic behind this, like much British tradition, a bit obscure. Parliament discussed Bank Holidays in 1964 around the concept of staggered holidays. The idea was to extend the holiday season and boost the tourist industry. The TUC had been demanding it since the 1940s as it meant jobs.
The main change was to shift the August Bank Holiday from the first Monday of the month to the last Monday (except in Scotland). But the Whitsun Holiday was also fixed at the same time. The idea here was to extend the holiday season at the front end. When the holiday fell in early June (if Easter was late) this meant school exams started later and imposed on plans for holidays in July (apparently). Hence keeping the holiday in May allowed exams to start earlier and for more family holidays in July.
Previously there had been a peak in late July and early August…
It’s the kind of issue you’d expect to excite the Mail and Telegraph (it doesn’t). The Whitsun holiday in Ireland (26 Counties)remains as it was.
A good deal of this very long running discussion might be addressed by having more public holidays. This doesn’t seem at the moment to be on the political agenda but it could be.
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