Here's a note I received last week, quoted with permission. A new "europe" file should follow shortly, reflecting at least the 1990, 1991, and 1992 information. --ado
From ncifcrf!@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK:@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk:peter@memex.co.uk Thu Jul 13 09:48:05 1989 Return-Path: <ncifcrf!@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK:@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk:peter@memex.co.uk> Received: from ncifcrf.UUCP by elsie (4.0/SMI-4.0) id AA09957; Thu, 13 Jul 89 09:48:03 EDT Received: from NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK by fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov (4.0/NCIFCRF-1.0) id AA25601; Thu, 13 Jul 89 04:54:06 EDT Received: from cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk by NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK via Janet with NIFTP id aa01688; 13 Jul 89 9:17 BST Received: by doc.memex.co.uk (5.54/memex_12) id AA20380; Tue, 4 Jul 89 10:30:35 BST Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 10:30:35 BST From: Peter Ilieve <ncifcrf!NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK!peter%memex.co.uk> Message-Id: <8907040930.AA20380@doc.memex.co.uk> To: fcs280s!ado Subject: British summer time dates from the horse's mouth Status: RO
From the UK Government paper "Summer Time: A Consultation Document" (HMSO Cm722 June 1989), which is about the possibility of the UK moving into the central European timezone and synchronising its summer time with the rest of Europe (by moving the end date back a month to end Sep., the start dates are already the same).
Summer time was not observed before 1916. It was introduced in the First World War in response to its introduction by Germany in March 1916. During the Second World War normal summer time was used in Winter and double summer time was used in Summer. Between 1968 and 1971 GMT+1 was used all year as an experiment. This caused voluble objections in Scotland and the experiment was judged a failure.
Although it does not say what happens in Europe, it does say that most of Europe did not use summer time until 1979, presumably dropping it after the 1st and/or 2nd war.
Note that this is not necessarily accurate for Eire.
The paper gives a complete record of dates from 1916, and dates up to 1992. The intention is to have the new system, if any, start in 1993. The dates are (copied exactly from the table in the paper):
Summer Time Double Summer Time Year Start End Start End 1916 21 May 1 October 1917 8 April 17 September 1918 24 March 30 September 1919 30 March 29 September 1920 28 March 25 October (extended from 27 Sep. because of coal strike)
1921 3 April 3 October 1922 26 March 8 October 1923 22 April 16 September 1924 30 April 21 September 1925 to 3rd Sunday 1st Sunday 1938 in April in October
1939 16 April 19 November 1940 25 February continued 1941 continued continued 4 May 10 August 1942 continued continued 5 April 9 August 1943 continued continued 4 April 15 August 1944 continued continued 2 April 17 September 1945 continued 7 October 2 April 15 July
1946 14 April 6 October 1947 16 March 2 November 13 April 10 August 1948 14 March 31 October 1949 3 April 30 October 1950 16 April 22 October 1951 15 April 21 October 1952 20 April 26 October
1953 19 April 4 October 1954 11 April 3 October 1955 17 April 2 October 1956 15 April 7 October 1957 14 April 6 October 1958 20 April 5 October 1959 19 April 4 October 1960 10 April 2 October
1961 26 March 29 October 1962 25 March 28 October 1963 31 March 27 October 1964 22 March 25 October 1965 21 March 24 October 1966 20 March 23 October 1967 19 March 29 October
1968 18 February continued 1969 continued continued 1970 continued continued 1971 continued 31 October 1972 19 March 29 October 1973 18 March 28 October 1974 17 March 27 October
1975 16 March 26 October 1976 21 March 24 October 1977 20 March 23 October 1978 19 March 29 October 1979 18 March 28 October 1980 16 March 26 October 1981 29 March 25 October
1982 28 March 24 October 1983 27 March 23 October 1984 25 March 28 October 1985 31 March 27 October 1986 30 March 26 October 1987 29 March 25 October 1988 27 March 23 October
1989 26 March 29 October 1990 25 March 28 October 1991 31 March 27 October 1992 29 March 25 October
These dates agree with the ones from Whitaker's Almanac for 1960--87 you quoted in your latest posting of the tzone stuff.
If we do go into the CET zone then you will have one less thing to worry about in future.
Peter Ilieve peter@memex.co.uk