People who were living in Britain or any other English colonies went to bed on 2 September 1752 and woke up on 14 September 1752. The reason? The Calendar (New Style) Act, 1750.
People at that time thought that the government cheated them and mistakenly believed that their lives would be shortened by 11 days. This led to civil unrest and rioters demanded their eleven days back from the government.
| The Calendar (New Style) Act, 1750 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, the second day of September in the said year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two inclusive; and that the natural day next immediately following the said the second day of September shall be called, reckoned, and accounted to be the fourteenth day of September, omitting for that time only the eleven intermediate nominal days of the common calendar. |
Introduction of the Gregorian Calendar
In 1528, reigning as leader of the Catholic Church for 10 years, Pope Gregory XIII had a problem with Easter due to an inbuilt error in the Julian calendar. To fix this, he released a papal bull decreeing that people under the dominionship of his church would have to accept the Gregorian calendar and skip some days.
In 1582, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain adopted the Gregorian calendar while Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, and Prussia in the next 50 years.
11-day skip in September 1752
Gregorian calendar is today's internationally accepted calendar but that wasn't always the case. Before 1752, Britain and its Empire followed the Julian calendar, implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C.
With the adoption of Gregory's bull by several nations, the people in Britain wrote letters with two different dates-- using the Gregorian calendar (used in mainland Europe) and the Julian calendar.
Eventually, the British Government instigated the Calendar (New Style) Act of 1750. The government admitted that the Julian calendar caused divers inconveniences, not only as it differs from the usage of neighbouring nations, but also from the legal method of computation in Scotland, and from the common usage throughout the whole kingdom, thereby leading to frequent mistakes in the dates of deeds and other writings, and disputes arising therefrom.
As a result, eleven days (September 3-13) were deleted forever from the calendar by the British Government to align it with the one used in Europe, a shift from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. This led to widespread riots and people demanded, "Give us our eleven days". Most historians, however, are of the view that the protests over lost calendar days never happened and it was a myth.
How calendar change happened?
1- 31 December 1750 was followed by 1 January 1750 (under the Julian calendar, December was the 10th month and January the 11th)
2- 24 March 1750 was followed by 25 March 1751 (March 25 was the first day of the Julian calendar year)
3- 31 December 1751 was followed by 1 January 1752 (the switch from March 25 to January 1 as the first day of the year)
4- 2 September 1752 was followed by 14 September 1752 (a drop of 11 days to align with the Gregorian calendar)
Difference between Julian Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar
| S.No. | Julian Calendar | Gregorian Calendar |
| 1. | It was implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. | It was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1528. |
| 2. | An average year in the Julian calendar is of 365.25 days. | An average year in the Gregorian calendar is of 365.2425 days. |
| 3. | Leap year every four years. | A year that is exactly divisible by 4 is a leap year. However, a year that is evenly divisible by 4 and 100 is a leap year only if it is exactly divisible by 400. |
W.M. Jamieson narrated a tale about William Willett of Endon in his book, 'Murders Myths and Monuments of North Staffordshire'. William Willett wagered that he could dance non-stop for 12 days and 12 nights. On the evening of 2 September 1752, he started to jig around the village and continued all through the night. The next morning, September 14th by the new calendar, he stopped dancing and claimed his bets!
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