Written By: Kate Taylor
As the nineteenth century era of industrialisation in Britain drew to a close, the lives of many in cities were ruled by time. Dictating everything from work shifts to social events, time stood (and still does) as a cornerstone of modern life. Due to Britain’s high latitude, midsummer saw daylight from 3.00am to 9.00pm at Greenwich, at odds with the routines of people in regular work and education. The hours of sunlight in the early morning hindered sleep, and the dark winter mornings led to increased reliance on artificial lighting at great expense.
In 1907, British manufacturer William Willett was inspired to write The Waste of Daylight pamphlet after observing pulled blinds during a morning walk in Petts Wood, Kent. Despite some political support for the economic benefits of the concept, the 1909 Daylight Saving Bill failed to pass, with the Liberal government focused on their platform of social reform. Whilst the bill periodically resurfaced in the Commons, it was not until 1916 that it was adopted into government policy.
This attitudinal shift actually came as a response to German and Austrian daylight-saving initiatives, introduced to combat fuel supply issues (partially due to naval blockades outside German ports). The bill presented in response, which would become the 1916 British Summer Time Act, had many strands of justification. The first (and perhaps most crucial) of these was that a time-shift would reduce the need for electricity in domestic and factory settings, reducing energy consumption at a time when supplies of coal were already being rationed. Indeed, reports also suggested that the policy reduced workplace injury due to better lighting. It also allowed time for the Territorial Army to be trained in daylight hours after the working day, preventing work time from being missed for such exercises. Some arguments even highlighted the benefits for evening golfers, perhaps aimed towards the upper classes within the Commons chamber. The policy was deemed successful and therefore continued once other wartime measures had been removed.
Jumping ahead to the Second World War, a system of double British Summer Time was introduced. In practical terms, the clocks were not turned back in the winter of 1940, meaning that the move an hour forward in Spring 1941 was actually Greenwich Mean Time +2. This saved fuel, by reducing dark evening hours where heating would have to be used and allowed people a greater window to travel home safely from work before the government-enforced blackouts begun. Whilst such blackouts had proven successful at reducing bombing attacks on major cities, they represented a serious hazard to any workers leaving factories after it had been imposed, as they were forced to navigate their way home without streetlights, car headlamps, or light from shop windows. Therefore, the GMT +2 policy was highly effective, ending in 1945 as wartime austerity ended. Despite a brief return to this policy in 1947, due to severe fuel shortages after the harsh winter of 1946-1947, it was felt that such a dramatic shift from GMT should only be used in extreme cases.
As a response to widespread desire through the 1950s for more summertime, the end of British Summer Time was moved from the start of October to the end, remaining in place from 1961 to 1967. This was a largely popular policy decision, although opposition was concentrated in Scotland and northern parts of England, where mornings were darker, posing risks to commuters and schoolchildren. After this scheme had finished, the government introduced a three-year experiment from 1968 to 1971, where summertime was applied throughout the year (this became known as British Standard Time). Whilst supporters had argued that a move closer to European time zones would allow easier trading connections with the continent, there is little evidence to suggest that this transpired. The 1970 vote (366-81) to end the experiment was heavily influenced by lobbying from farmers, builders, Scottish groups, as well as the press (who capitalised on fears of children being injured on their way to school in the dark, despite a lack of evidence to support these fears). The 1972 Summertime Act consolidated the format of GMT and BST and remains the basis of the policy in the twenty-first century.
However, following the creation of the European Single Market in 1991 and increased collaboration within the European Union, various alternatives have been proposed by pro-European groups. As Britain’s relationship with the European Union evolves, the debates surrounding British Summer Time continue, with questions of its relevance in the twenty-first century.
Bibliography
Greenwich Mean Time. 2019. History of British Summer Time. 10 March. Accessed March 12, 2025. https://greenwichmeantime.com/daylight-saving-time/history-bst/.
Historic UK. 2016. British Summer Time. 4 May. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/British-Summer-Time/.
House of Commons. 1909. Hansard: Daylight Saving Bill. 5 March. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1909/mar/05/daylight-saving-bill#S5CV0001P0_19090305_HOC_3.
Politics.co.uk. 2019. British Summer Time. 2 October. Accessed March 12, 2025. https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/british-summer-time-bst/.
The Chislehurst Society. n.d. William Willett: Daylight Saving and British Summer Time. Accessed March 12, 2025. https://chislehurst-society.org.uk/pages/about/people/william-willett-daylight-saving-and-british-summer-time/.
UK Parliament Briefing Files. 1993. British Summertime: Time to Decide? 12 November. Accessed March 13, 2025. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP93-111/RP93-111.pdf.
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