Social history
The Wakes holiday
We're all going on a summer holiday!
As the summer season gets underway, you will still find local people making reference to Wakes fortnight.
This was the traditional holiday taken in July - a time when factories and businesses closed and the local population set off to the seaside. But where does the term 'Wakes' come from?
The word is derived from 'waking' or 'watching'. Originally a vigil would be kept on the eve of a festival or funeral in a town or village. After the Industrial Revolution, wakes were made the occasion for the annual closing of mills and a holiday for the workforce. It also provided an opportunity for machinery and equipment to be cleaned and overhauled.
The Wakes tradition in Halifax began in 1896, instigated by the Chamber of Commerce. It was decided to hold a midsummer break in August. However, there was strong local opposition to the holiday being called 'The Wakes' as this was the name adopted by the Lancashire cotton mills!
The idea of an annual high summer holiday soon caught on. In the first year, the holiday was generally observed, with only one or two exceptions - notably Dean Clough. The popularity of the holiday grew, and each year, in the second week of August, there would be a mass exodus from the wool towns to the west coast resorts of Blackpool and Southport as well as to Scarborough and Bridlington on the east.
This continued until 1945, when it was decided to move the holiday to July. A contributor to the local newspaper at the time commented that,
"It was too late in August - nights were drawing in, seaside landladies were getting jaded. It was changed to July and better weather".
Unfortunately, the annual holiday did have some adverse side effects. From May to September, one northern town or another was on holiday. There was no standardisation, and even in this area, Halifax and the Calder Valley would differ to the holiday taken by Brighouse.
Decline in the textile industry, plus increased mobility of labour, led to increased pressure to abandon the holiday. In 1984, the local chief education officer described the Wakes holiday as "a 19th century imposition which has become an obstruction"
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Each year an annual debate took place as to whether the holiday should be abolished. One of the arguments was that it was causing disruption in schools. Children were returning to school before the results of examinations were known. Education was again disrupted in early September for the two day break.
The Wakes holiday and September Break were finally abandoned in 1996, bringing the school holidays into line with the rest of the country. However, there are still one or two firms in the area which do maintain the traditional holiday.
