Governments normally prefer to shuffle existing holidays, for example the VE Day holidays in 1995 and 2020 replaced the May Day holidays in those years, or not to announce one at all, for example the state funeral of Winston Churchill in 1965. Can't have a day off for the plebs getting in the way of national productivity.
But because this has also been a Jubilee year, 2022 becomes the first year ever to have two extra bank holidays. Thanks Liz!
2) Good Friday and Christmas Day have been common law holidays since time immemorial. That's a lot of centuries with just two (official) days off.
6) The Bank Holidays Act 1871 established four further public holidays in England and Wales - Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the first Monday in August and 26 (or 27) December - that's six in total. 1953 was the first year with seven bank holidays thanks to the Queen's Coronation, and 1973 the second thanks to Princess Anne's wedding.
7) New Year's Day was first introduced as a public holiday in England and Wales in 1974. This made seven bank holidays the new standard. 1977 was the first year to have eight bank holidays thanks to the Queen's Silver Jubilee.
8) The May Day bank holiday was introduced in 1978, and since then eight bank holidays has been the annual baseline.
Bank holidays in the 1970s
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
-
-
-
Wed
+ NY
-
-
Jub
+May
-
Prince Charles's wedding to Lady Diana Spencer meant that 1981 was the first year with nine bank holidays, a total also achieved in 1999, 2002, 2011 and 2012.
And the unscriptable coincidence of a sovereign's jubilee followed by a sovereign's death means that 2022 is the first year with ten bank holidays.
n.b. Scotland normally has nine bank holidays so this year is getting eleven, and Northern Ireland normally gets ten so this year is getting twelve.
Bank holidays since 2010
2010
2011
2012
2013-2021
2022
2023
2024-
8
9
9
8
10
9?
8
-
Wed
Jub
-
Jub/Fun
Cor?
-
The Coronation should deliver a total of nine bank holidays next year, or maybe the year after if organising a massive constitutional shindig takes umpteen months. But after that expect to be back to our baseline total of eight for the foreseeable future - no jubilees, no big VE Day anniversaries and no chance of Prince George marrying any time soon.
It's always within the remit of the government to fiddle with our bank holidays, although adding another would be a triumph of populism over economics so don't expect to see it soon. Indeed 2022 may be the only ten-bank-holiday year of our lifetimes, so make the most of it, and God Bless You Ma'am.
