In the 19th century, Saint Monday was a common practice among working-class railway workers, who took the day off for excursions, though the habit drew numerous complaints.
A correspondent writing in the Birmingham Daily Post in 1860 offered a defence of the practice. The writer suggested that labourers being criticised for not working on Mondays might be compared with Members of Parliament, who did not commence work in the Commons until Thursdays.
According to the correspondent, the workers actually achieved their targets despite taking Mondays off.
