Notes for British Calendar Act of 1750

Implemented Across 1751, 1752, and 1753

In the year 1750 the British Parliament and King George II introduced a change to the calender that changed the British calender of the preiod into the calendar used to this day in 1753. The intermediate years of 1751 and 1752 were used to fix outstanding problems in the previous calender. This made each of these two years unique for the reasons found later in this document.

The fact that the associated activity spans four years has caused confusion on what date to pin it to. The year 1750 is common. "British Calendar Act of 1750 Implemented Across The Years 1751, 1752, and 1753 is the creation of Gilbert Healton.

This change only impacted parts of the British Empire. Other nations switched at other times. Some earlier, some later.

Index

• Introduction
• Mark Brader Notes
• Gilbert Healton Notes
• References
• Legal Calendar For The Year 1751
• Calendar For The Year 1752

• British Calendar Act of 1751
• Tables For British Calendar Act Implemented Across 1751, 1752, and 1753

Introduction

The Calendar Act of 1750 corrected two major problems, each in its own year.

• 1751: The Act first changed the beginning of the year from March-25, as used by the government for legal purposes, to the popular date of January-01, which was used by the populace and many other nations. The last year starting in March was 1751 and it ended on December-31 as the next legal year started on 1752-January.
   
• 1752: The Julian calendar was eleven days ahead of the earth's actual position due to having too many Leap Years. This correction added the 100/400 year exceptions we use today along with dropping eleven days out of 1752-September to bring the calendar back into agreement with the earth's position. See the following calendar.

The year 1753 started the years we know to this day, though various people have been pushing for more changes to this day.

The Calendar Act also addresses many legal and religious issues associated with making the change. Including to make sure monthly, annual, and other time-based payments or events continued on the same interval and did not suddenly shortchange people.

Lord Chesterfield was a driving force being adopting the calender correction in England. hose interested in the history may find a few paragraphs in the letters he wrote to his son on the subject of interest. http://www.archive.org/ has full text transcripts of these letters.

Mark Brader Notes

From: (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: Calendar Changes (was: Gregorian Calendar Rationale)
Summary: The British Act to adopt the Gregorian Calendar
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 92 13:09:40 GMT

Previously I wrote in a newsgroup:

I have recently obtained a copy of the Act of the British government -- 24 Geo. 2. c. 23 -- which changed the calendar used "in and throughout all his Majesty's Dominions and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and America, belonging or subject to the Crown of Great Britain"... If there's sufficient interest ... I'll consider typing in the text of the Act.

I got 11 mail messages asking me to go ahead, so here it is. For the sake of legibility though, I am taking a number of liberties with the presentation of the text.

• The original text is written as 6 long paragraphs, one for each section marked off by Roman numerals. I have broken it into shorter paragraphs.

  {The original text also had marginal notes, mostly headings, which I reproduce thus.}

  Things written in-line in brackets [like this] are me speaking.

• I have converted all lists containing long items to point form, like this. In the original text, everything is written in line. I have left lists of short items in line.
• I write most cardinal or ordinal numerals in figures, while the original text always has it in words -- for example, I write "the 2nd Day of September in the said Year 1752", while the original text reads "second Day" and "one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two". Marginal notes in the original text do use figures.
• The original text uses the tall s (the old form that looks similar to an f) wherever the s is not the last letter in the word.

(I hope it is not felt that I have done too much damage to the text by these changes of presentation. I think it's significantly easier to read, with no loss of content. I have retained the original Capitalization, spelling, punctuation, and italicization.)

Original letters typed by me (Mark); proofread with the assistance of my wife Cathy, but there may still be the odd error. However, be assured that the forms "Chattles", "entred", "Hereditaments", "Merchandize", "Politick", "Publick", "Supputation", and "surrendring"; the usages " all and every the fixed Feast-days", "any other the Dominions and Countries", and "the Time of the attaining the Age of one and twenty Years"; and of course the typos that I've marked "[sic]"; are rendered as they appear in the Act.

This article is in the public domain, including the legislation of course.

-- 
Mark Brader, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	    "Beware the Calends of April also."
	 					-- Peter G. Neumann

Since posting the above, I have also emailed it to a number of people, The following is a summary of points raised in an email conversation.

1. Nothing is said about days of the week. Presumably the idea is that since they aren't mentioned, they aren't affected by the Act.
    
2. This is awkward if something depends on a combination of the date and the day of the week. What if a market is held on "the first Saturday in every month"? It now has to remain on the same natural day, 11 days later, so apparently it now must be held on the first Saturday following the 10th of each month.
    
3. Where the Act describes future actions as taking place on the same natural day or the same nominal day as before the change, it generally adds for clarity that this is 11 nominal days later, or 11 natural days earlier, than without the calendar change, as the case may be. However, the offset does not remain 11 days indefinitely; that number is valid only until February 28, 1799. So the Act is self-contradictory as regards events occurring after that date.
    
4. I think the appropriate conclusion is that the "11 days" wording was intended only by way of guidance in interpretation; otherwise the whole calendar change makes no sense. Perhaps they thought that 1800 was so far in the future that it wasn't important enough to get it right! However, the effect on birthdays is quite significant: lots of people born under the old calendar would still be alive in 1800. Since these are to be celebrated on the same natural days as formerly, it appears that the date of the US celebration of Washington's birthday is now 2 days off...
    
5. Nothing is said about any annual events, such as saints' days, that would normally have been held during September 3-13, 1752. We might conjectured that there were no such events of any consequence and that was why those particular days were chosen to be skipped.
    
6. There is no explicit mention of the treatment of wages, but the blanket language in section VI referring to all sorts of payments covers them.
    
7. It is interesting to compare the language of the Act with that of modern legislation. For instance, they didn't yet have the concept that they could simply declare that "terms in the singular include the plural", and so they felt it necessary to say "Sum or Sums of Money". Another Point of Interest is that most Nouns were capitalized, a la German, but not all. And finally, note that the legal boilerplate varies in wording from one place to another. Each of these clauses would be identical in modern legislation, whether word-processored or not:
   • II. ... Be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, ...
   • III. ... Be it therefore further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, ...
   • IV. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, ...
   • V. ... Be it therefore further declared, provided and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, ...
   • VI. Provided also, and it is hereby further declared and enacted, ...

   And finally, there is this word Supputation that I'd never heard of!

Mark Brader, Toronto	"If the standard says that [things] depend on the
            		 phase of the moon, the programmer should be prepared
          		 to look out the window as necessary."  -- Chris Torek

(NOTE: Mark does not have a public E-mail address at this time)

Gilbert Healton Notes

Additional Material

Bringing To The Web

1. Returned "{marginal notes}" to their original format, as best as HTML allows. As these marginal notes appear to serve as headings, a hyperlinked index has been added near the top of the page that lists the notes and allows readers to jump to sections on interest (if their web browser is smart enough). Further, a new hyperlinked "[]" has been added below each marginal note to return readers to the index.
2. Some paragraphs started each line with a open-quote (`) character. This continued for each line until a line containing the close quote. As this can not be reproduced in portable web pages a single ` preceeds each "quoted" paragraph as a remnant of the rows of quotes. The closing quote remans in its natural position.

The Calendar Act of 1750 included many tables which Mark did not include in his newsgroup posting. Gilbert has started work on the tables from a copy the original Calendar Act. This is an ongoing process and full proofing has yet to be performed. In particular, HTML comments containing ZZZ (<!-- ZZZZ -->) lead text Gilbert is particularly wondering about.

It may take some time for your browser to "compose" these tables after the page is loaded. Please be patient.

So far Gilbert has resisted using graphic images in this document to keep it very portable across all browsers. It also makes it very easy to copy the calendar act for your own use. While the calendar act is in the public domain, we ask that people copying the act or its tables keep all three of these web pages together.

Gilbert did not use any conversion program. As he speaks HTML like a native he simply wrote the HTML by hand, in such a manner any table-capable browser should display nice web pages.

Spelling and Words

[Middle English; see diverse.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Word Origin & History
c.1275, "various," from O.Fr. divers "different or odd," from L. diversus "turned different ways," in L.L. "various," pp. of divertere (see divert). Sense of "several, numerous" is recorded from 1297, referring "originally and in form to the variety of objects; but, as variety implies number, becoming an indeffinite numeral word expressing multiplicity" [OED].

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

References

 

E-Mail Archive

Original E-mail from Mark that triggered this web page.
[http://www.urbanlegends.com/legal/calendar_act.html]

 

Papal Bull "Inter Gravissimas" (1582)

With these words, Gregory expressed his vision of the 1582 calendar reform as completing a task called for by the Council of Trent in 1563.

 

The Earl Of Macclesfield's Speech In The House Of Peers

On Monday, the 18th Day of March, 1740.

 

LXXXIX Stat. 24 GeorgeII 2, c.23(2). A.D. 1751. "An Act for regulating the Commencement of the Year, and for correcting the Calendar now in use."

Google Book scan of original law.

[Return To Index]

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1751

January February March (...actually legally part of 1750...) Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. (...actually legally part of 1750..) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 April May June Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 1 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 28 29 30 26 27 28 29 30 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 July August September Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 31 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 29 30 October November December Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 27 28 29 30 31 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 29 30 31

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1752

January February March Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 26 27 28 29 30 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 30 31 April May June Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 26 27 28 29 30 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 28 29 30 31 July August September Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 1 1 2 14 15 16 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 26 27 28 29 30 31 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 October November December Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 1 2 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 29 30 31 26 27 28 29 30 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

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