England’s legal observance of 5 November, created after the Gunpowder Plot, was repealed in 1859.
Parliament passed the Observance of 5th November Act in 1606, after the failed attempt to destroy the House of Lords and kill King James I. The law required an annual public thanksgiving service on 5 November, helping establish the date as a recurring national commemoration.
The act was part of a wider effort to reinforce loyalty to the Protestant monarchy and to remember the foiling of the conspiracy. Church services, sermons, bonfires and public celebrations developed around the anniversary, though local customs varied considerably.
Repeal in 1859 ended the statutory religious observance, but it did not end the popular festival. Bonfires and fireworks continued, and the event became widely known as Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night. The repeal is therefore often misunderstood: it removed the legal requirement for observance, not the date or the traditions themselves.