Editing Old Style and New Style dates (section)

==Britain and its colonies or possessions==
[[File:Memorial to John Etty (18373251064).jpg|thumb|Memorial plaque to John Etty in [[All Saints' Church, North Street, York]], recording his date of death as "28 of Jan: {{sfrac|170|8|9}}"]]
In the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] and its possessions, the [[Calendar (New Style) Act 1750]] introduced two concurrent changes to the calendar. The first, which applied to England, Wales, Ireland and the British colonies, changed the start of the year from 25 March to 1 January, with effect from "the day after 31 December 1751".{{sfn|Bond|1875|loc=[https://archive.org/details/handybookofrules00bond/page/91/mode/1up page 91]}}{{efn|The act has to use this formulation since "1 January 1752" was still ambiguous.}} (Scotland had already made this aspect of the changes, on 1 January 1600.){{sfn|Steele|2000|page=4}}{{sfn|Bond|1875|loc=[https://archive.org/details/handybookofrules00bond/page/n20/mode/1up xvii]–xviii: original text of the Scottish decree}} The second (in effect{{efn|The Calendar Act does not mention Pope Gregory}}) adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar. Thus "New Style" can refer to the [[#Differences in the start of the year|start-of-year adjustment]], to the [[adoption of the Gregorian calendar]], or to the combination of the two. It was through their use in the Calendar Act 1750 that the notations "Old Style" and "New Style" came into common usage.

=== {{anchor|Differences in the start of the year}}Start-of-year adjustment ===
{{Further|Julian calendar#New Year's Day|Regnal year|Calendar (New Style) Act 1750#New Year's Day}}
When recording British history, it is usual to quote the date as originally recorded at the time of the event, but with the year number adjusted to start on 1 January.<ref name="woolf">e.g. {{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Woolf |author-link=Daniel Woolf |title=The Social Circulation of the Past: English Historical Culture 1500–1730 |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-19-925778-7 |page=xiii |quote=Dates are Old Style, but the year is calculated from 1 January. On occasion, where clarity requires it, dates are written 1687/8.}}</ref> The latter adjustment may be needed because the start of the [[civil calendar]] year had not always been 1 January and was altered at different times in different countries.{{efn|British official legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries were usually dated by the [[regnal years of English monarchs|regnal year]] of the monarch. As these commence on the day and date of the monarch's accession, they normally span two consecutive calendar years and have to be calculated accordingly, but the resultant dates should be unambiguous.}} From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March ([[Lady Day]]);<ref>Nørby, Toke. [http://www.norbyhus.dk/calendar.php#England The Perpetual Calendar: What about England?] Version 29 February 2000.</ref>{{sfn|Gerard|1908}} so for example, the execution of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 164'''8''' (Old Style).<ref name=regicides>{{cite web|url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=26211#s5|title= House of Commons Journal Volume 8, 9 June 1660 (Regicides)|publisher= British History Online|access-date= 18 March 2007}}</ref> In newer English-language texts, this date is usually shown as "30 January 164'''9'''" (New Style).<ref name="EC-NA">[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/rise_parliament/docs/charles_warrant.htm Death warrant of Charles I] web page of the [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ UK National Archives]. A demonstration of New Style, meaning Julian calendar with a start of year adjustment.</ref> The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar is 9 February 1649, the date by which his contemporaries in some parts of continental Europe would have recorded his execution.

The O.S./N.S. designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the "historical year" (1 January) and the legal start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales, Ireland and the colonies until 1752, and until 1600 in Scotland.

In Britain, 1 January was celebrated as the New Year festival from as early as the 13th century, despite the recorded (civil) year not incrementing until 25&nbsp;March,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1940 |title=New Year's Day and Leap Year in English History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/553864 |url-status=live |journal=The English Historical Review |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |volume=55 |pages=180–185 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lv.ccxviii.177 |jstor=553864 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202193510/https://www.jstor.org/stable/553864 |archive-date=2 February 2021 |last1=Pollard |author-first1=A. F. |author1-link=Albert Pollard |issue=218}}</ref>{{efn|name=Pepys|For example, see the [[Diary of Samuel Pepys]] for 31{{nbsp}}December 1661: "I sat down to end my {{notatypo|journell}} for this year, ...",<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pepys |first=Samuel |title=Tuesday 31 December 1661 |url=https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/12/31/ |website=www.pepysdiary.com |date=31 December 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124225143/https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/12/31/ |archive-date=24 November 2021}}</ref> which is immediately followed by an entry dated "1{{nbsp}}January 1661/62".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pepys |first=Samuel |title=Wednesday 1 January 1661/62 |url=https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1662/01/01/ |website=www.pepysdiary.com |date=January 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211124225147/https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1662/01/01/ |archive-date=24 November 2021}}</ref> This is an example of the [[dual dating]] system which had become common at the time.}} but the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year, although the phrase Old Style was more commonly used".<ref name="MS2"/> To reduce misunderstandings about the date, it was normal even in semi-official documents such as parish registers to place a statutory new-year heading after 24 March (for example "1661") and another heading from the end of the following December, ''1661/62'', a form of [[dual dating]] to indicate that in the following twelve weeks or so, the year was 1661 Old Style but 1662 New Style.<ref name="MS-oblique-stroke">Spathaky, Mike [http://www.cree.name/genuki/dates.htm Old Style and New Style Dates and the change to the Gregorian Calendar]. "An [[slash (punctuation)|oblique stroke]] is by far the most usual indicator, but sometimes the alternative final figures of the year are written above and below a horizontal line, as in a fraction, thus: <math>17\tfrac{33}{34}</math>. Very occasionally a hyphen is used, as {{notatypo|1733-34}}."</ref> Some more modern sources, often more academic ones (e.g. the [[History of Parliament]]) also use the ''1661/62'' style for the period between 1 January and 24 March for years before the introduction of the New Style calendar in England.<ref>See for example this biographical entry: {{cite book |last=Lancaster |first=Henry |year=2010 |chapter=Chocke, Alexander II (1593/4–1625), of Shalbourne, Wilts.; later of Hungerford Park, Berks |title=The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604–1629 |editor-first=Andrew |editor-last=Thrush |editor2-first=John P. |editor2-last=Ferris |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |chapter-url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/chocke-alexander-ii-15934-1625}}</ref><ref name="woolf"/>