Yorkshire Day

Yorkshire Day
A TLC Travel bus displaying "Happy Yorkshire Day!" on the destination blind, Yorkshire Day in 2018.
Observed byResidents of Yorkshire
SignificanceBattle of Minden and the emancipation of slaves anniversary
CelebrationsCelebration and promotion of Yorkshire culture
Date1 August
Next time1 August 2025 (2025-08-01)
Frequencyannual
Related toLincolnshire Day; Minden Day; Oxfordshire Day; St Piran's Day; Sussex Day

Yorkshire Day is a yearly celebration on 1 August to promote the historic county of Yorkshire, in England.[1] It was celebrated by the Yorkshire Ridings Society in 1975, initially in Beverley, as "a protest movement against the local government re-organisation of 1974".

On 1 August the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was passed, during the British Empire in 1834. William Wilberforce, a Yorkshire MP, had campaigned for the emancipation.[2][3]

The day was already celebrated by the Light Infantry, successors to the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, as Minden Day, after the battle of Minden. Together with five other infantry regiments of the British Army, a rose is permitted to be worn in the headdress. In the case of the Light Infantry, the rose is white.

  1. ^ "Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2014 - top 10 regions". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Yorkshiremen want power in ridings". The Times. 1 August 1977.
  3. ^ "Why the white rose is riding high". The Times. 31 July 1980.