How Britain Missed 11 Days From Their Calendar In 1752

The internet at times comes up with several such bizarre incidents from the past. People get to know about the most unexpected cases. One such case belongs to the mid-18th century, when a country had to skip as many as 11 days from their calendar. According to the reports, people in this country slept on September 2 and woke up on September 14. The incident took place in Britain in 1972, when in between these 11 days no one was born or died, or any marriage ceremony took place. There were no trade agreements signed or any war fought between these skipped days in Britain. This has amused people across the world as the whole country skipped a total of 11 days altogether from their lives. Let us know what was the reason behind this incident that resulted in skipping days from the calendar.

You must know that several types of calendars are followed by different countries and ethnicities. It includes the Chinese calendar, Gregorian calendar, Julian calendar, Hebrew calendar, Hindu calendar, Lunar calendar, Persian calendar, and Roman calendar. The incident of September 1752 was also linked to these calendars. Previously, the United Kingdom followed the Julian calendar, while most of its neighbours have already been following the Gregorian calendar. The Britishers decided to adopt a new calendar, which undertook a 11 day skip while switching.

To adopt the new calendar, the British parliament passed a law which is also called the Calendar New Style Act 1750. Before the implementation of the law, the country followed the Julian calendar which is believed to be prepared by Julius Caesar in 46 BC. This calendar had an error of 1 day every 128 years, due to which the miscalculation of the solar year happened for 11 minutes. According to the Historic UK report, this affected the date of Easter, which was traditionally observed on March 21.

To resolve the spotted problem, the Gregorian calendar was adopted. It is a solar calendar having 365 days of a year, divided into 12 months. Each month in the year consists of either 30 or 31 days while one month in February consists of 28 days. Additionally, this calendar also has a leap year every 4 years when the month of February has 29 days.