Sunday, September 2, 2007

September 2: The Curious Case of the lost Days




1752 became a standout year in history when the United Kingdom decided to adopt the Gregorian Calendar (as the Julian Calendar was found to be inaccurate) in all its colonies, as a direct consequence of the Calendar Act of 1750. So the day following Wednesday September 2nd 1752 was Thursday September 14th 1752.


(If u wanna check, try looking up http://tinyurl.com/3748h7)

Here's a screen shot of the page.


Not surprisingly, people went on strike demanding the "lost' days of their life. Come to think of it- people may have had deadlines for various jobs, and they would all be haywire now. Besides, what about all the engagements scheduled during the days swallowed? There may have been marriages, court trials, elections, harvests and what not planned on those days? While there's no evidence as to whether the government gave prior warning about this enactment (when I say prior, in this case, it must have been at least 6 months), it went a long way into ensuring the Tax payment was not compromised (Typical Government Stuff I guess!).

In the words of wiki:


The Kingdom of Great Britain and thereby the rest of the British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United States) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 under the provisions of the Calendar Act 1750; by which time it was necessary to correct by eleven days (Wednesday, September 2, 1752 being followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752) to account for February 29, 1700 (Julian).


Whoa! All this hullabaloo for just ONE (1) day??


Crazy!

No comments: