02/09/2026
On this day in 1752, Britain used the Julian calendar for the last time, going to bed as Wednesday, 2 September and waking up the following morning as Thursday, 14 September, with the 11 days in between simply erased from history.
The switch to the more accurate Gregorian calendar was made to correct centuries of drift caused by the Julian calendar's slightly inaccurate leap year system, bringing Britain finally into line with most of Western Europe, which had already made the change back in 1582.
The popular story of furious mobs rioting in the streets demanding "give us our eleven days" is now largely considered a myth, likely inspired by a satirical William Hogarth painting rather than any real historical unrest.
Some people genuinely feared the government had somehow shortened their lives by 11 days, while the tax year end was shifted from 25 March to 5 April to ensure nobody was unfairly taxed on a shortened year, a quirk of the calendar reform still in place today.
