An Irishman’s Diary on daylight saving time

On the last weekend of this month, our clocks will go forward one hour, the reason being the concept of daylight saving time (DST). One of the strongest advocates of the concept was an Englishman, William Willett, who died on March 4th, 100 years ago, a short time before what he had supported so strongly was introduced into the United Kingdom.

Ancient civilisations often divided daylight into 12 hours regardless of the length of the day, so that each daylight hour was longer in the summer. Roman water clocks, for example, had different measurements for different months: based on Rome's latitude, the third hour before sunrise, or hora tertia, started at 9.02 am (our time) and lasted for 44 minutes at the winter solstice; at the summer solstice, it began at 6.58 am and lasted 75 minutes. Gradually, after ancient times had passed, this unequal dividing of hours faded.

In the 18th century, Benjamin Franklin, when he was American envoy to France, revived the idea of adapting to daylight hours. He published a satire in 1784, which proposed to tax shutters, ration candles and wake people by ringing church bells and firing cannons at sunrise. But as rail and communication networks developed, the need for standardising time became more urgent.

The New Zealand entomologist, George Vernon Hudson, was the first to propose modern DST. His shift-work gave him free time to collect insects and caused him to especially value extra daylight hours. In an 1895 paper, he proposed advancing the clock by two hours in summer and putting it back by the same amount in winter. His suggestion proved too radical for his contemporaries.

William Willett, from Farnham in Surrey, had entered his father’s building business and they developed a reputation for the high-quality houses they built in parts of London and the south of England, including Derwent House in Chislehurst in what is now the London borough of Bromley. Willett lived most of his life in Chislehurst, which at that time was in Kent.

The idea of DST is said to have struck him as he was riding his horse in Petts Wood near his home early one summer morning and he noticed how many blinds were still down. He was also a very keen golfer and didn’t like to have to cut short his round at dusk.

At his own cost, he published a pamphlet in 1907 entitled The Waste of Daylight. His proposal was less radical than Hudson's – putting the clock forward 20 minutes at a time at 2 am on four successive Sundays in April and putting it back on four Sundays in September by 80 minutes in total. This, he argued, would give more daylight for leisure and save £2.5 million in lighting costs.

Willett campaigned vigorously, winning the support of Robert Pearce MP, who tried unsuccessfully a number of times to get the idea through parliament.

Winston Churchill also lent his support for a time and a parliamentary select committee examined the issue in 1909. Willett continued to campaign up till his death from influenza in 1915 at the age of 58. A memorial sundial at Petts Wood, set permanently to DST, commemorates him.

The outbreak of the first World War gave impetus to DST, mainly because of the need to save coal. Germany and Austria-Hungary introduced the scheme in April 1916. The UK, its allies and other European countries soon followed suit, although the US did not introduce it until 1918.

It was gradually abandoned after the war, notably in the US, but not in Canada, the UK, France or Ireland. It became widespread again during the second World War and the energy crisis in the 1970s caused it to be adopted widely, especially in North America and Europe.

DST suits an industrialised society better that an agrarian one. Supporters argue that it saves energy, helps physically and psychologically because of promoting outdoor activities, reduces accidents and crime and helps businesses. Opponents dispute the energy-saving effect, maintain that it can damage health (especially increasing coronary risk) and disrupts morning activities. They also hold that changing the clocks twice yearly disrupts economic and social life. It would probably be true to say that the farming community likes DST least.

Because of the need of modern society to standardise and coordinate across a wide range of activities, there is little doubt that DST is here to stay. Although he died 100 years ago, shortly before it was put into practice, William Willett’s efforts bore fruit.