*Historical* Spare a thought that 270 years ago, the New Year didn’t start until the end of March.
It was thanks to a previous owner of Carshalton House, that the new year now starts on 1 January.
Lawyer Sir Philip Yorke, later Lord Chancellor and first Earl of Hardwicke enjoyed Carshalton House as his country retreat from 1732.
In 1739 he purchased Wimpole, the largest house in Cambridgshire, now ran by the National Trust.
He was instrumental in moving the traditional New Year for business contracts from Lady Day (25 March) to January 1st. Up until then, each calendar year started on the 25 March.
The change caused some uproar…
It was necessary to correct the calendar by 11 days: known as the ‘lost days’. It was decided that Wednesday 2nd September 1752 would be followed by Thursday 14th September 1752. If your birthday fell during that time, too bad.
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If your birthday fell during that time you could celebrate by being a year younger for the rest of your life