1959: Workers Travel Association call for the August Bank Holiday to move to last Monday of month
From 1871 until 1965 the August Bank Holiday in all four home nations was on the first Monday in August. This coincided in many areas with breaks in factory production (often unpaid). With the development of a legal entitlement to time off and paid time off pressure rose from the late 1940s to extend the holiday season. That meant specifically moving the August Bank Holiday to the last Monday.
This was trialled from 1965 (in England and Wales) and moved permanently in 1971.
The extract below is from a House of Lords debate in 1959.
The Workers Travel Association (1921-1966) was an organisation backed by trade unions, the Labour Party and co-ops that promoted travel abroad, international fellowship and holidays in general. It was wound up in 1966 because it was felt that the idea of ‘workers’ holidays was becoming outdated. This was part of an earlier modernisation project that had also seen the Daily Herald transformed into the Sun and then in the late 1960s sold to Rupert Murdoch. A reminder that the 1960s as a decade of change in Britain was multi-faceted.
I will quote only one more, from the Workers Travel Association. They say: The Annual Meeting of shareholders of the Workers’ Travel Association, held on April 4, 1959, passed the following resolution: ‘That this Annual Meeting of the members of the Workers’ Travel Association, convinced of the advantages to be derived from taking holidays away from home at times other than July and August, calls upon Her Majesty’s Government, local and public authorities, and all interested organisations, to introduce measures designed to encourage more people to take holidays outside the peak periods; and further urges Her Majesty’s Government to introduce legislation changing the date of the August Bank Holiday from the first to the last Monday in August’”.
Lord Gifford, Hansard, 18th November 1959
In 2025 the idea of taking holidays outside of July and August has perhaps gained more traction with calls to shorten the school summer break and have a longer one in October. A reminder too, however, that such changes have complexities, particularly involving the impact on tourism and travel- and the jobs they create- at particular times of year
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