Old
Style and New Style dating:
Great
Britain was one of the last major countries to change from the Julian to the Gregorian
calendar. In 1752 Britain and the American colonies officially adopt the
Gregorian calendar. By that time there was a difference of eleven days between
the two calendars. The result was confusion when dating events and documents in
Britain and the American colonies.
An
event that happened on January 1 using the Julian calendar would in essence be
January 12 after the conversion to the Gregorian calendar. Another complication
was that under the Julian calendar as used by Britain and Colonial America a
new year began on March 25 rather than January 1. Some historians began the
practice of adding "Old Style" (or "O.S.") after Julian
calendar dates and "New Style" (or "N.S.") after Gregorian
calendar dates.
The
issue is further complicated by the fact that we do not always know if the
dates we find in our sources are true to the Old Style dating or to the double
dating - i.e. 1733/4 or 1733/34. I recommend that users of this website check
with original sources and come to their own conclusions about the accuracy of
dates.
Richard W. Baker