Time to Turn Back the Clock: Celebrating Willett’s Legacy

Published: 25 October 2025. The English Chronicle Desk. The English Chronicle Online.

For many in the UK, the arrival of Sunday means a simple pleasure: an extra hour in bed. For others, it brings a disruption to their circadian rhythm that can take weeks to reset. At 2 a.m., clocks across the country will go back by one hour, continuing a practice that has been mandated by law for more than a century.

The idea of “daylight saving” traces back to a wealthy Kent builder, William Willett, who conceived the plan during an early summer morning ride in 1907. Willett noticed that most people still had their curtains drawn, shutting out the morning light while they slept. He proposed that moving clocks forward in spring would allow people to enjoy more daylight during their waking hours.

His pamphlet, The Waste of Daylight, argued that adjusting clocks would not only increase opportunities for recreation but also reduce household lighting costs thanks to lighter evenings. “His main argument was to increase health and wellbeing across the population, but he also pointed out economic benefits to garner approval,” explained Dr Emily Akkermans, curator of time at the Royal Observatory Greenwich.

Willett managed to gain the support of several prominent politicians, including David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill. Even Arthur Conan Doyle, the celebrated author of the Sherlock Holmes novels, endorsed the idea. Discussions in Parliament followed in 1908, but the proposal was not adopted during Willett’s lifetime.

It was only after the outbreak of the First World War that the plan gained traction. Governments sought ways to save fuel, increase productivity, and make the most of daylight hours. In 1916, Germany became the first country to implement a daylight savings scheme, followed shortly by Britain. Willett, who died of influenza in 1915, never saw his idea put into practice, yet his legacy lives on worldwide.

On Sunday, as clocks move back an hour to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), the sun will once again pass over the prime meridian at the Royal Observatory at midday. Akkermans notes that the autumn change is generally less disruptive than the spring shift to British Summer Time. “In spring, the clock change forces us to get up an hour earlier, which makes us feel like we lose an hour. In autumn, we’re allowed to lie in an extra hour, which feels like a gain,” she explained.

In reality, she added, the change does not result in a net gain or loss of time but adjusts daylight hours to match seasonal variations. “In Greenwich, we have about 16 hours of sunlight in summer and only eight in winter. The clocks change to make the most of the varying amount of daylight hours we have throughout the year.”

Reactions to the clock changes vary. Some adjust quickly, while others experience disruptions to their sleep cycles and circadian rhythms for days or even weeks. Regardless of individual impact, the practice continues to shape daily life, balancing convenience with the natural rhythm of the seasons.

Willett’s farsighted idea, once championed by politicians and writers alike, has left a lasting imprint on modern life. As the UK enjoys an extra hour in bed this Sunday, it is worth remembering the man whose vision of longer daylight hours continues to influence millions worldwide.