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There was a time when this part of the year was a confusing one: the new year started on Lady Day, March 25th. So, February 20th in 1600 was, at that period, February 20th, 1599. It was not until March 26th that they could say that they were in 1600. People reading old documents nowadays have to be on the alert and when a deed was signed on March 24th in 1503, we have to describe it as of 1504. It is important with things like wills and birthdays and deaths, otherwise we might find we are adding or substracting a year from a person's age.
No doubt, the population was beginning to be confused by the start of the 18th century, if January 1st was becoming the customary start of the new year. The government eventually legalised the new date in 1752 so, from that date, modern genealogists and historians can accept dates at their face value. In the example quoted above, it is sometimes referred to as March 24th 1503/4. 1752 was an important year for another reason: in that year, the calendar in England was changed from the Julian calendar, which had become ten days adrift from the solar year, to the Gregorian calendar, so called because Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 made the change. Most European countries did so much earlier than we did: in 1752 England altered its calendar on the 3rd Sept., when it became the 14th Sept. As this lost the government much revenue in taxes, the tax year was moved from March 25th to April 6th