The History of Holidays by Catherine Randall

The first holidays were religious festivals or holy days, which is of course where the word ‘holiday’ comes from.  In Britain, these were traditionally based around Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter and saints’ days and they were an opportunity for people to take time away from their work to gather together and celebrate.  The festival would normally begin with a service in the local church and decorating the church with fresh greenery and flowers would be part of the fun. The rest of the day would be given up to feasting, music, parades, dancing and drinking. They were days out of the ordinary, days to look forward to, days to remember, which is how we still think of holidays.

Church flower festivals are an echo of the very first holidays

Until the Victorian age, only the very wealthiest people travelled away for a holiday! Most people couldn’t take more than a day or so away from their work on the land, travelling was slow, and anyway – where would they go?

Then two things happened which changed British summer holidays for ever – the new idea that seawater was actually good for you and, secondly, the arrival of the railways.

From the early 1700s onwards, sea bathing became a recommended cure for all kinds of illnesses, and gradually coastal towns such as Scarborough, Whitby, Margate and Brighton grew into seaside resorts where you could go for a health-giving dip in the sea and enjoy the bracing sea air. But there was no splashing around in your bathing costume with your rubber ring  - the bather entered the sea from a bathing machine, a sort of mobile changing room wheeled into the water. Women bathed fully dressed although, rather surprisingly, until the 1860s men could bathe in the nude! A canvas modesty hood attached to the end of the machine concealed the bather from spectators on the beach.

William Powell Frith’s painting Life at the Seaside, Ramsgate Sands is a fascinating Victorian seaside scene. Note the bathing machines in the background on the right (Royal Collection Trust)

Seaside towns soon sprouted assembly halls, theatres and libraries to entertain their visitors when they weren’t sea bathing. But these coastal resorts were the preserve of the wealthy classes who had the time and the means to make the long coach journeys from their fashionable homes in London or Bath.   

All this changed with the coming of the railways. From the 1840s, it was possible for the first time for large numbers of people to travel from inland towns and cities to the coast. Genteel resorts like Weymouth, Scarborough and Brighton now saw an influx of new visitors while resorts such as Blackpool and Llandudno, Cromer and Minehead all grew up in response to the growing demand from the middle classes for a jolly day out at the seaside.

Loughborough Central Station (photo: David Middleton)

It wasn’t long before the working classes too were jumping on trains and joining their more affluent neighbours at the beach. The increasing popularity of the seaside among all social classes can be seen in the building of the piers in Blackpool. Blackpool began as a middle-class resort. It opened its first pier – North Pier - in May 1863 as an attraction for middle-class Victorians to stroll along while taking the health-giving sea air. By 1868, a new influx of working people led to the construction of Central Pier (originally called South Pier), which boasted opportunities for dancing, music and drinking.

Blackpool's North Pier (photo: Susan Brownrigg)

Blackpool was at the very forefront of seaside entertainment for the working classes. After Blackpool station opened in 1846, its easy accessibility from the Lancashire mill towns, coupled with the northern tradition of the ‘wakes week’ (a week when all the factories in a particular town closed down for maintenance), led to thousands of holidaymakers taking the train to Blackpool each year. They went to enjoy the wide beaches, the fresh air and the increasing number of entertainments that the enterprising town businesses provided for their amusement.

Blackpool Tower was opened in 1894 (photo: Susan Brownrigg)

While the workers of the Lancashire mill towns were jumping on trains and speeding off to the nearest seaside, a Leicestershire temperance campaigner called Thomas Cook was busy pioneering another type of holiday which stills flourishes today: the package holiday.

Statue of Thomas Cook outside Leicester Railway Station

Thomas Cook was a strict Baptist who at the age of 25 took the temperance pledge to abstain from alcohol, and soon began campaigning for others to do the same. Unlikely as it sounds, the first ‘package holiday’ organised by Thomas Cook was a day trip from Leicester to Loughborough (a distance of 11 miles) for a temperance meeting on 5 July 1841. The one shilling ticket price included rail travel, a ham sandwich and a cup of tea!  Around 485 people paid the shilling to travel on a train hired from the Midland Counties’ Railway for a day of marches, speeches, games and tea. 

The original 1840 Loughborough station used by Thomas Cook no longer exists, but Loughborough Central Station shown here, opened in 1899, is now the headquarters of the Great Central Railway heritage line, where visitors can ride on full-size steam trains. At one stage in the nineteenth century, Loughborough had three railway stations! (photo: David Middleton)

Thomas Cook had realised the potential of arranging trips for others. Just as the railways made seaside holidays accessible to the masses, railways also made possible day excursions to other places of interest. Thomas Cook’s business really took off in 1851 when he organised trips to the Great Exhibition in London for workers from the Midlands and Yorkshire. By the end of the Exhibition, 150,000 people had travelled with Thomas Cook. Only four years later Thomas Cook was leading his first continental tour to Belgium, Germany and on to Paris. 

Early postcard from Blackpool (photo: Susan Brownrigg)

WRITING CHALLENGE

Imagine you are a Victorian child, travelling by steam train to go to the seaside for the day. Can you write a postcard to someone at home telling them about your amazing experience? What was the most exciting thing – travelling on the train, with the steam billowing around you, or maybe it was paddling in the sea for the first time. Did you walk along the pier and listen to the band? Or maybe you did some fishing from the end of the pier? Was it sunny, or did you have to huddle under an umbrella? What did you have to eat? 

Write a postcard, or even a letter, about your day trip.

Watch Catherine's YouTube video about Victorian holidays by clicking here

Catherine Randall is the author of The White Phoenix , an historical novel for 9-12 year olds set in London, 1666. It was shortlisted for the Historical Association’s Young Quills Award 2021. Catherine is currently working on a children's novel set in Victorian London.

The White Phoenix is published by the Book Guild and available from bookshops and online retailers.

For more information, go to Catherine’s website: www.catherinerandall.com.

Twitter: @Crr1Randall.