# @(#)europe	7.16# This data is by no means authoritative; if you think you know better,# go ahead and edit the file (and please send any changes to# tz@elsie.nci.nih.gov for general use in the future).# From Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com> (November 18, 1993):# A good source for time zone historical data outside the U.S. is# Thomas G. Shanks, The International Atlas (3rd edition),# San Diego: ACS Publications, Inc. (1991).# Except where otherwise noted, it is the source for the data below.## Another source occasionally used is Edward W. Whitman, World Time Differences,# Whitman Publishing Co, 2 Niagara Av, Ealing, London (undated), which# I found in the UCLA library.## I invented the abbreviations marked `*' in the following table;# the rest are from earlier versions of this file, or from other sources.# The starred Russian names are dubious.  Corrections are welcome!#		std dst#		LMT	Local Mean Time#		LST	Local Star Time (Russian ``mestnoe zvezdnoe vremya'')#	-4:00	AST	Atlantic#	-3:00	WGT+DST	Western Greenland*#	-2:00	MGT+DST	Middle Greenland*#	-1:00	EGT+DST	Eastern Greenland*#	-1:00	ACT+DST	Azores and Canaries*#	-1:00	IST IDT	Iceland (no longer used)*#	 0:00	GMT BST Greenwich, British Summer#	 0:00	WET+DST Western Europe#	 1:00	MET+DST Middle Europe#	 2:00	EET+DST Eastern Europe#	 3:00	MSK MSD	Moscow#	 3:00	TUR+DST	Turkey (no longer used)*#	 4:00	KSK KSD	Kuybyshev*#	 5:00	ESK ESD	Yekaterinburg*#	 6:00	OSK OSD	Omsk*#	 6:00	NSK NSD	Novosibirsk (was 7:00 until 1994)#	 7:00	TSK TSD	Tomsk*#	 8:00	ISK ISD	Irkutsk*#	 9:00	YSK YSD	Yakutsk*#	10:00	VSK VSD	Vladivostok*#	11:00	GSK GSD	Magadan*#	12:00	PSK PSD	Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski*#	13:00	ASK ASD	Anadyr*## See the `africa' file for Zone naming conventions.## A reliable and entertaining source about time zones, especially in Britain,# is Derek Howse, Greenwich time and the discovery of the longitude,# Oxford University Press (1980).# From Andrew A. Chernov <ache@astral.msk.su> (November 12, 1993):# LST is Local Star Time (``mestnoe zvezdnoe vremya'').################################################################################ United Kingdom# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (July 6, 1994):## On 17 Jan 1994 the Independent, a UK quality newspaper, had a piece about# historical vistas along the Thames in west London. There was a photo# and a sketch map showing some of the sightlines involved. One paragraph# of the text said:## `An old stone obelisk marking a forgotten terrestrial meridian stands# beside the river at Kew. In the 18th century, before time and longditude# was standardised by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, scholars observed# this stone and the movement of stars from Kew Observatory nearby. They# made their calculations and set the time for the Horse Guards and Parliament,# but now the stone is obscured by scrubwood and can only be seen by walking# along the towpath within a few yards of it.'## I have a one inch to one mile map of London and my estimate of the stone's# position is 51 deg. 28' 30" N, 0 deg. 18' 45" W. The longditude should# be within about +-2". The Ordnance Survey grid reference is TQ172761.## [This yields GMTOFF = -0:01:15 for London LMT in the 18th century.]# From Paul Eggert <eggert@twinsun.com> (November 18, 1993):## Howse writes that Britain was the first country to use standard time.# The railways cared most about the inconsistencies of local mean time,# and it was they who forced a uniform time on the country.# The original idea was credited to Dr. William Hyde Wollaston (1766-1828);# it was popularized in 1840 by Capt. Basil Hall, RN (1788-1844),# famed explorer and former Commissioner for Longitude.# The first railway to adopt London time was the Great Western Railway# in November 1840; other railways followed suit, and by 1847 most# (though not all) railways used London time.  On 1847 Sep 22 the# Railway Clearing House, an industry standards body, recommended that GMT be# adopted at all stations; the January 1848 Bradshaw's lists most major# railways as using GMT.  By 1855 the vast majority of public# clocks in Britain were set to GMT (though some, like the Great Clock# in Tom Tower at Christ Church, Oxford, were fitted with two minute hands,# one for local time and one for GMT).  The last major holdout was the legal# system, which stubbornly stuck to local time for many years, leading# to oddities like polls opening at 08:13 and closing at 16:13.# The legal system finally switched to GMT when the Statutes (Definition# of Time) Act took effect; it received the Royal Assent on 1880 Aug 2.## In the tables below, we condense this complicated story into a single# transition date for London, namely 1847 Sep 22.  We don't know as much# about Dublin, so we use 1880 Aug 2, the legal transition time.# From Arthur David Olson (January 19, 1989):## A source at the British Information Office in New York avers that it's# known as "British" Summer Time in all parts of the United Kingdom.# Date: 4 Jan 89 08:57:25 GMT (Wed)# From: Jonathan Leffler <nih-csl!uunet!mcvax!sphinx.co.uk!john># [British Summer Time] is fixed annually by Act of Parliament.# If you can predict what Parliament will do, you should be in# politics making a fortune, not computing.# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (September 3, 1993):## I have some more up to date info.## Our Government...couldn't...make a decision after the 1989 consultation# exercise about the UK changing its timezone so it just let things drift# (different from deciding to keep the status quo).  According to the# Summer Time Order 1992 (SI 1992/1729) the dates of Summer Time for 1993# and 1994 are:#	Start		End# 1993	28 March	24 October# 1994	27 March	23 October# All start and end times are at 01:00 GMT.## There [was] an error in your tables for the start and end times prior to 1981.# The UK always used to change at 02:00 GMT. In 1981 it changed to 01:00 GMT# as a part of EC harmonisation and has remained at that time since.## I have found the default algorithm for UK Summer Time, it is in the# Summer Time Act 1972. Section 1 states that in the absence of an Order# in Council Summer Time starts at 02:00 GMT on the morning of the day# after the third Saturday in March, unless that day is Easter Day, in# which case it is the morning of the day after the second Saturday.# It ends at 02:00 GMT on the morning of the day after the fourth Saturday# in October. (All the redundant `morning of the day ...' is in the Act.)# This is only of passing interest now as it will always be overridden by# an Order in Council (a Statutary Instrument, the SI thing mentioned above)# to specify the EC specified dates.# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (October 18, 1993):## My contact in the Ministry of Defence Public Relations department# accepted the challenge of looking into this and produced the following,# from Hansard (the official record of the UK Parliament), Oral Answers,# 1 March 1945, cols 1559--60:## `58. Major Sir Goronwy Owen asked the Secretary of State for the Home# Department if he is now able to state the Government's proposals# regarding double summer time.## [two other similar questions omitted]## Mr. H. Morrison: The Government, in reviewing the matter, have# considered, [...] the conclusion has been reached that the adoption of# double summer time from the beginning of April is essential to the# maintenance of the war effort. [...] As 1st April is Easter Sunday,# when very early services are held in many churches, it is proposed that# double summer time shall start not in the night preceding Easter# Sunday, but in the night of Sunday- Monday so that it will operate from# Monday, 2nd April.'# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (September 3, 1993):## > # Current rules# > Rule GB-Eire 1981	max	-	Mar	lastSun	1:00s	1:00	BST# > Rule GB-Eire 1981	max	-	Oct	Sun>=23	1:00s	0	GMT## The ending rule here doesn't match the EC rules, which specify the fourth# Sunday in October for the UK and Eire. The `fourth Sunday' rule wasn't# followed in 1989, but then the sixth EC directive wasn't in force then# and I don't know what previous ones said. 1995 is the next year with# the 4th Sun on 22 Oct, but that year isn't covered by the UK Summer Time# Order or the sixth EC directive. Your Oct Sun>=23 rule matches history# and with things only announced for 2 years or so in advance who knows# what will happen.## There are renewed rumours that the Government here will make another# attempt at resolving this issue, which is what prompted me to start# asking the Home Office and the EC about it again. The EC categorically# state they are not asking anybody to change timezone, they only want# common start/end dates. The UK Govt. seem to want to change our zone# and blame the resulting fuss on the EC. Me, I think we should scrap# summer time completely, noon is when the Sun is overhead, and that should# be the end of it.# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (October 22, 1993):## I now have the text of the Summer Time Act 1916, the granddaddy of them all.# It is headed: `An Act to provide for the Time in Great Britain and Ireland# being in advance of Greenwich and Dublin mean time respectively in the# summer months'.## It specifies 21 May and 1 October for 1916 (both at 02:00 GMT) and whatever# dates an Order in Council may specify for subsequent years.## Section 4 states: `This act shall apply to Ireland in like manner as it# applies to Great Britain, with the substitution however of references# to Dublin mean time for references to Greenwich mean time.'## Lorna, my learned legal friend who supplied it, also offers this quote# from Halsbury's Statutes on the extent of Acts:## `An Act of the United Kingdom Parliament is to be construed prima facie# to apply to the whole of the United Kingdom and not to any place outside.# [...] The expression "United Kingdom" for this purpose includes (since# 1922) Great Britain (ie. England, Wales and Scotland) and Northern Ireland,# but it does not include the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.'## She goes on to say the seminal event of 1922 was the establishment of# the Irish Free State, now called Eire.## The Act doesn't say anything about Wales (or Scotland) so I would assert# that Shanks is wrong here. I would like to know why he thinks Wales# was different.## It also confirms the fact that Ireland followed Dublin time back then,# and 25 minutes behind Greenwich, as Shanks has it, would be correct.# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (October 28, 1993):## I now have before me, thanks to my learned legal friend Lorna, the text of# the Time (Ireland) Act 1916.## It says that as from 2 AM Dublin Mean Time on 1 October 1916 the time# for general purposes in Ireland shall be the same as the rest of Great# Britain (ie. GMT with the Summer Time periods specified by the Summer Time# Act 1916)....  As Ireland was behind GMT/BST at 02:00 DMT on 1 Oct GB would# have already put the clocks back. Using DST as Dublin Summer Time the# sequence would have been:# Dublin		London# 02:34 DST	02:59 BST# 02:35 DST	02:00 GMT# 02:59 DST	02:24 GMT# 02:25 GMT	02:25 GMT# with the transition 03:00 DST -> 02:00 DMT -> 02:25 GMT all at once.## In a table of repeals in the Schedule to the Act it mentions the# Statutes (Definition of Time) Act 1880. This is presumably the source# of the 1880 date in Shanks.  The little bit of it that is repealed# also refers solely to Ireland and Dublin Mean Time.# From Peter Ilieve <peter@memex.co.uk> (October 29, 1993):## My case is that, with the sole exception of Ireland in 1916 using Dublin# Mean Time, Summer Time has been uniform throughout the United Kingdom# ever since it first started in 1916.## The United Kingdom is England, Wales and Scotland plus all of Ireland from# 1916 up to and including 1921, or plus Northern Ireland from 1922 to date.## The dates used are those specified in the table in Summer Time: A Consultation# Document (Cm 722, 1989) that are now included in the europe file, with a# change to a single date, the start in 1924. I made a typo in my 1989 mail# and the table itself is also wrong.  The correct date is 13 April.# The times were 02:00 GMT up to and including 1980, 01:00 GMT from 1981 on,# except for wartime double summer time.## As evidence I would cite:## - The Summer Time Act, 1916.## This specifically states that it applies to Ireland, specifies dates of# 21 May and 1 October and times of 02:00, and says that in Ireland the# times relate to Dublin mean time. It specifies an offset of 1 hour.## - The Time (Ireland) Act, 1916## This abolishes Dublin mean time on 02:00 DMT 1 October 1916.# It repeals that section of the Statutes (Definition of Time) Act, 1880# that specifies DMT. It is therefore a safe bet that DMT existed at least# from 1880 and was the only alternative standard time in the UK.## - The Summer Time Act, 1922## This specifies an offset of 1 hour and dates of the day after the third# Saturday in April, unless that be Easter, in which case it is the day after# the second Saturday, and the day after the third Saturday in September.# The time is 02:00 GMT. It applied in 1922 and 1923, and longer if Parliament# so approved.## It specifically states that it applies to Northern Ireland, the Channel# Islands, and the Isle of Man.## - The Summer Time Act, 1925## This makes the 1922 Act permanent, with a change to the end date to the# day after the first Saturday in October. It says nothing about extent,# so that part of the 1922 Act will still apply.## - The Defence (Summer Time) Regulations, 1939, SR&O 1939 No. 1379#   [SR&O == Statutary Regulation and Order]## These were made under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act, 1939.# It changes the end date to be the day after the third Saturday in November.# It makes consequential changes to some vehicle lighting legislation,# which includes the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Act,# 1934, so it seems clear it applies in Northern Ireland.## - An Order in Council amending the The Defence (Summer Time) Regulations,#   1939, SR&O 1940 No. 1883