122 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



class or of politics the chorus of approval was 

 full and unanimous. It was the Daily Telegraph 

 that first suggested the name of St. Lubbock's 

 Day for the holiday. 



" The people," the writer said, " may forget a 

 great many deeds of glory and names of renown ; 

 but they will never forget him who has given them 

 a new and universal day of repose and recreation." 



The following vivid account of the first Bank 

 Holiday is given by The News of the World : 



Blessings upon the head of Sir John Lubbock, who 

 invented a decent excuse for holidays to Englishmen. 

 We never wished for a revival of Saints' days, but we did 

 certainly wish that some great inventive genius could 

 discover a reason why the people should not work all 

 the year round, Sundays, Good Fridays, and Christmas 

 days excepted. Well, Sir John Lubbock was scientific 

 enough to invent Bank Holidays, and hence on Monday 

 thousands of Her Majesty's subjects were able to enjoy 

 themselves. It was a surprise to everybody, for 

 thousands of employers acted in the most generous 

 manner, and waived any little technical objection as to 

 the right. For instance, the Act says that no one shall 

 be called upon to pay any sum or to do any act which 

 he cannot be compelled to do on Sunday or Good Friday. 

 These words admit of a very wide interpretation, and 

 they would seem to include all the Queen's subjects, 

 for no man can be compelled by law to work on Sunday. 

 Be that as it may, the employers acted with great 

 generosity on Monday, and so tens of thousands of 

 people were released from work to make a demand upon 

 the railway companies and the steamboats which sur- 

 prised stationmasters and river captains. From 8 a.m. 

 the cry at every railway station was, " Still they come ! " 

 and the supply of passengers very far exceeded the 

 supply of accommodation. At the Fenchurch Street 

 Station there was a crowd of hundreds struggling for 

 tickets to Margate and Southend, and it is said that the 

 vessels from Thames Haven only reached Margate 

 jetty at 4 p.m., whilst the railway bills announced the 

 return of the steamers to Thames Haven at 3.30 p.m. 



