Bank Holiday

This year, when we had an extra bank holiday in June to mark the Platinum Jubilee of her Majesty, we in England have an extra day added to the eight we normally get, Scotland get nine annually, and Northrn Ireland ten each year. It is no coincidence that I mention Bank Holidays, for it was 150 years this year that the first bank holiday was celebrated in the UK.

As Christmas Day and Good Friday had been common law holidays for hundreds of years, the idea of a Bank Holiday gave nominated days in the calendar the same status - that no payments or perform any task could be forced upon anyone that could not be forced on them on Christmas Day or Good Friday. Introduced by Liberal politican Sir John Lubbock, the Act dated December 1871 gave Easter Monday, Whit Monday, Boxing Day and the First Monday in August as holidays in England, Wales and Ireland; while Scotland had New Year's Day, Good Friday, First Monday in May, First Monday in August, and Christmas Day.

Since then St Patrick's Day was added in Ireland in 1903, New Year's Day in England in 1974; and Boxing Day in Scotland also added in 1974. From 1965, and initially as an experiment, the August Bank Holiday was moved to the last Monday in August in order to shorten the gap between August Bank Holiday and Christmas. For those first few years, Parliament would announce the date of August Bank Holiday each year. Yet the date would be based on the last Saturday in August, which resulted in August Bank Holiday in the years 1968 and 1969 falling in September. Eventually England, Wales and ireland had the August Bank Holiday moved permanently to the end of August, although Scotland retains the original first Monday to this day.

St Andrews Day has been a bank holiday in Scotland since 2007, and there is currently talk of doing the same for St George's Day in England and St David's Day in Wales. Correctly these, and the other days, are no longer bank holidays, for the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 was repealed in 1971 and superseded by the Banking and Financial Dealings Act of 1971. No surprise that title never caught on.

Saint Vincent Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest St Vincent's cities.

Edinboro is named after the capital of Scotland, as this was where the first settlers originated.

Kingstown, as with other places of this name, is a reminder of the times when colonists from European nations claimed these lands for their own. Here the man was none other than George III of the House of Hanover.

New Sandy Bay Village is named, well its named for the bay on which it stands which, it will come as no surprise to hear, is sandy.

Charlotte Parish is named after Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III.

Gun Hill is named as it was where soldiers built an observation station, occupied between 1772 and 1797.

Bequia comes from the ancient Arawak language and means 'island of the clouds'.

Mustique is the French word for 'mosquito', although early the group had been named Los Pajaros or 'the birds' by Spanish sailors, as the island chain were thought to resemble birds in flight.

Petite Mustique, 'little Mustique', is named in comparison to the above.

Palm Island got its name when John Caldwell, known affectionately as 'Johnny Coconut', planted hundreds of the tree Cocos nucifera here and transformed a swamp where nobody desired to live, into the island paradise. Even the grass airstrip was given over to palms and now the only access is by boat. Note the earlier name for this place had been Prune Island.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Malaysia Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest Malaysian cities.

Kuala Lumpur is from the Malay language where it means 'muddy confluence', although some sources refer to earlier names such as Sungai Lumpur 'muddy river' and Pengkalan Lumpur 'muddy landing place'. In truth it should probably be known as Kuala Gombak as this is where the rivers Gombak and Klang meet and as one river is larger should be referred to as a kuala.

George Town was named as such in 1786 in honour of the British monarch, King George III.

Ipoh takes its name from a local tree, once referred to as Pohon Epu and more recently as Pokok Ipoh. Those indegenous peoples of Malay used the poisonous sap of the tree to tip their blowpipe darts when hunting.

Kota Kinabula is named after Mount Kinabalu, itself describing 'the revered place of the dead'. The additional Kota means 'fort, town, city'.

Alor Setar is from two Malay words, Alor or 'small stream' combines with Setar the marian plum or plum mango.

Kuala Teregganu has the same elemnt as the capital city, although here it may be seen as 'estuary' of the river named from the Malay for 'bright rainbow'.

Kuching has a number of theories as to how it got its name. Among these is the suggestion this is from Kucking the Malay for 'cat' or transferred from the Malabar Coast and the Indian port of Cochin.

Miri takes the name of the local group known as the Jatti Meirek or simply Mirek.

Serebang Perai was originally named Province Wellesley after Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley who served as Governor General from 1797 to 1805. The present name refers to the northern banks of the Perai River, the name originating from the Thai plai meaning 'end' and a reference to this being a boundary between two provinces.

Kajang, as a name, is disputed but generally held to refer to the scew pine found here which the Temuan people used in constructing the roofs of their hames.

Klang, as a place name, takes its name from the Klang River. If this is so then it likely comes from the Mon-Khmer word Klong 'canal, waterway'. However, should the river have taken the name from the place then this is probably the Malay word Kilang and likely referred to the huge number of warehouses once found here, although today modern usage defines kilang as 'factory'.

Sandakan was named by a Glaswegian arms smuggler by the name of William Cowie, who used this Suluk term meaning 'the place that was pawned'. I would doubt a more unlikely source for a place name exists.

Padawan is said to be a combination of the Bidayuh words Padja Birawan, said to recall the story of an elder named Kinyau who discovered some beads nearby. When it transpired these beads had magical properties he named them Birawan and added the suffix to the name of his eldest son, Padja.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.

Guyana Place Names Explained

Having blogged samples of my books on English place names and also examined the etymologies of the nations of the world and their respective capitals I thought it time I cast my net a little wider. As English place names share some links to other tongues it would be interesting to see if any of the elements contributing to our place names could be found elsewhere. Continuing an alphabetical tour of the world and a look at the largest of Guyana's settlements.

Georgetown was named such on April 29th 1812, in honour of King George III of Great Britain. It had previously been known as Longchamps by its French founders, later as Stabroek after the Dutchman Nicolaas Geelvinck, Lord of Stabroek.

Mainstay Lake is clearly a modern name, indeed it had previously been known as Quacabuka, an Arawak name meaning 'in between'.

Bartica is a town on the left bank of the Essequibo River, its name comes from an Amerindian word meaning 'red earth'.

Essequibo River is named for its European discoverer, Juan de Eaquivel. He was the deputy of Don Diego Columbus, son of Christopher Columbus.

New Amsterdam named by the Dutch after their most famous city, itself named for the dam on the River Amstel and originating from aeme-stelle 'water-area'.

Hyde Park is named after the famous London location, itself coming from the former manor of Hyde and a name referring to a hide of land, defined as the amount of land required to support one family for one year.

Lochaber is named after the place in Scotland, itself from the confluence of the rivers.

Note the spellings of the places are English as the piece is written in English.