Tag: Gregorian

. In 1751 the Calendar Act was passed by Parliament – so that in 1752 – New Year’s Day would fall for the first-time on “January 1st” – as opposed to the traditonal “March 25th” (the latter bang the original Roman “New Year” – subsequently adopted by the Christian Church to celebrate “Lady’s Day” – referring to “Mary Mother of Christ” Day – as the UK was now “Protestant” Mary was no longer the central figure she still is in the now ousted Catholic Church). Interestingly, when I worked in an Accountancy firm in the UK, the “Financial Year” legally began on “April 1st” – the retaining of the old Pagan New Year for financial purposes – I am told (a time of “plenty” in the world as Spring has arrived). What happened after the 1752 change is that all the historical dates were altered to reflect the new calendar – with “January 1st” now being “New Year”. Therefore, King Charles I was executed in “1649” and not the actual “1648” – as “January 1st” (New Year) had come and gone prior to the event. Sometimes in UK textbooks, you may find acronyms like “OD” (“Old Date”) and “ND” (New Date) next to differing years – or something similar. So, King Charles died in 1648 (OD) and 1649 (ND) – and so on. As time has gone by, quite often the “Old Dates” have been forgotten altogether – until a particularly efficient historian decides to brush-off the cobwebs.