14 September 1752: Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar and “loses” 11 days

This day in 1752 saw Britain and its colonies “lose” 11 days, as it switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.

Gregoire XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, 1502-1585) Photo by Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images
Pope Gregory: 16th-century time lord
(Image credit: Gregoire XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, 1502-1585) ©)

If, in 1752, you'd arranged to do anything on any day between 2 September and today, you'd have had a hard time getting it done. And if it was your birthday on any of those days, you'd have a right to feel upset – no matter how big your cake or how much jelly you'd laid on, nobody would have come to your party. Because those days didn't exist – the British Calendar Act of 1751 had abolished them.

Until this day in 1752, Britain was using the Julian calendar, designed by Sosigenes of Alexandria and introduced by Julius Caesar in 46BC. Just like the current calendar, the Julian calendar had 365 days, with 366 days every fourth year. But that missed out a day every 128 years, which meant the year was effectively 11 minutes short, when compared with the solar year.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.