I first became aware of a potential calendaring situation when I came across a baptism record that looked something like this: Jane Smith daughter of John and Jane Smith baptized 30 March 1728
And then a burial record of the same child that looked something like this: Jane Smith daughter of John and Jane Smith buried 8 Feb 1728
Wait, what? It appeared that the child had died before she had even been born!
After some research I soon learned that I needed to stay on my toes, as many parish records were not recorded January-December, but were instead recorded about April to March. Strange to me, but apparently not back then. These records were recorded following what is known as the Old Style calendar, which meant that the New Year began on Lady Day, March 25, and ended on Marth 24 the following year, unlike our present calendar which begins January 1 and ends December 31.
In 1752, England underwent two calendar changes which are important to note when researching and recording ancestral records. One change adjusted the start of the civil calendar year from March 25 (Lady Day) to January 1 (the New Year Festival). This is an important change to note because many records prior to 1752 were subject to Old Style calendaring that could cause confusion depending on when events happened during the calendar year, as we understand the calendar year to be presently (i.e. it may appear that births, marriages, deaths and other events happened earlier or later than they actually did).
The other change was the abandonment of the Julian calendar in favor of the Gregorian calendar, finally coming into alignment with most other regions in Europe whe. These two changes
This page explains England’s change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.
See also:
This commentary is only in reference to the England calendar switch. For information on other countries’ switch to the Gregorian Calendar, see Adoption of the Gregorian Calendar.