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In United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Bank holidays are meant to be public holidays when the general public working at different services, only excluding some of the essential utility services gets a holiday. These days are referred as bank holidays as on the days declared as Bank holidays, all the banks remain closed, more precisely, it can be said that all the trading operations get stopped on these days.
If we are discussing on the Bank holidays and want to chart down the 2009 Bank Holidays in UK then it will be better to know a bit about how the Bank holidays came into being. It must be known that, the number of Bank holidays in UK is favorably less than the numbers of public holidays being observed in other European countries.
Generally speaking, the bank holidays include the holidays proclaimed by the Royal authorities and the common holidays prescribed by the body of Law or the ‘common law holidays’, such as, Good Friday and the Christmas. Banks are never allowed to operate on Bank holidays. If it is desired to make a list of the 2009 Bank holidays in UK then bank holidays in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland need to be taken in account.
If we follow the history and go back to the earlier years, even before 1834, then we will see that, at that time, only the ‘Thirty Three Saint’s Day and other religious festivals were observed as Bank holidays. In 1834, it got limited to only four scheduled holidays. The first Bank Holiday legislation was passed in the year 1871 and the Bank Holidays Act 1871 came into being.
The calendar of 2009 Bank Holidays in UK is been created according to the prescribed bank holidays prevailing in UK at the recent times. There are separate list of holidays for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as the days vary to some extent due to difference in traditions and culture.
England and Wales:
- New Year's Day( Bank holiday), 1 January
- Good Friday (Public Holiday), 10 April
- Easter Monday (Bank Holiday ), 13 April
- Early May Bank Holiday , 4 May
- Spring Bank Holiday, 25 May
- Summer Bank Holiday, 31 August
- Christmas Day (Public Holiday), 25 December
- Boxing Day
- Bank Holiday
Scotland:
- New Year's Day, 1 January
- Second of January, 2 January
- Good Friday (Public Holiday), 10 April
- Early May Bank Holiday , 4 May
- Spring Bank Holiday, 25 May
- Summer Bank Holiday, 3 August
- St Andrew's Day, 30 November
- Christmas Day (Public Holiday), 25 December
- Boxing Day (Bank Holiday) , 28 December
Northern Ireland:
- New Year's Day (Bank Holiday), 1 January
- St Patrick's Day (Bank Holiday), 17 March
- Good Friday (Public Holiday), 10 April
- Easter Monday (Bank Holiday), 13 April
- Early May Bank Holiday, 4 May
- Spring Bank Holiday, 25 May
- Battle of the Boyne or the Orangemen's Day (Bank Holiday), 13 July
- Summer Bank Holiday, 31 August
- Christmas Day (Public Holiday), 25 December
- Boxing Day (Bank Holiday)
Resource: To learn more about it, you can browse through 123newyear.com
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