Page 6 - British Post Office Notices 1666 to 1799
P. 6

-                      Below is the actual text of the Act of Parliament authorizing the change-over:

                                "May it therefore please your Majesty, that it may be enacted; and be it enacted
                            by the  King's  most Excellent Majesty,  by  and with  the Advice  and  Consent of the
                            Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
                            and  by  the  Authority  of  the  same,  That  in  and  throughout  all  his  Majesty's
                            Dominions and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject
                            to the Crown of Great Britain, the said Supputation, according to which the Year of
                            our Lord beginneth on the twenty-fifth Day of March, shall not be made use of from
                            and after the last Day of December one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one;  and
                            that the first  Day of January  next following  the said last  Day of December shall be
                            reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord
                            one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two;  and the first Day of January, which shall
                            happen next after the said first Day of January one thousand seven hundred and fifty-
  -                         two, shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first Day of the Year
                            of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three;  and so  on, from Time to
                            Time, the first  Day of January  in every Year, which shall happen in Time to come,
                            shall be reckoned, taken, deemed, and accounted to be the first Day of the Year; and
                            that each new Year shall accordingly commence, and begin to be reckoned, from the
                            first  Day  of every  such  Month  of January  next  preceding  the  twenty-fifth  Day  of
                            March, on which such Year would, according to the present Supputation, have begun
                            or commenced: And that from  and after the said first Day of January one thousand
                            seven hundred  and fifty-two,  the several  Days  of each Month  shall go  on,  and  be
                            reckoned  and  numbered  in  the  same  Order;  and  the  Feast  of Easter,  and  other
                            moveable  Feasts  thereon  depending,  shall  be  ascertained  according  to  the  same
                            Method,  as  they now  are,  until  the second Day of September in  the said Year one
                            thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-two  inclusive;  and  that  the  natural  Day  next
                            immediately following the said second Day of September, shall be called, reckoned,
                            and accounted to be the fourteenth Day of September,  omitting for  that  Time only
                            the eleven intermediate nominal Days of the common Calendar; and that the several
                            natural Days,  which shall follow  and succeed next  after the  said fourteenth Day of
                           September,  shall  be  called,  reckoned,  and  numbered  forwards  in  numerical  Order
                            from the said fourteenth Day of September, according to the Order and Succession of
                            Days now used in the present Calendar."

                         List of British Monarchs

                         For ease  of reference,  I include  the  dates  of the  reigns of the British Monarchs  from  1666  to
                    1700:

                                 Charles II   1660-1685                   Anne       1702-1714
                                 James II    1685-1688                    George I   1714-1727
                                 William m  1689-1702                     George II   1727-1760
  ,.,.,-                           and                                    George ill  1760-1820
                                 MaryII      1689-1694

                        Acknowledgement

                         This series of books came into being thanks to the urging of many friends and stamp dealers who
                    knew of my interest in the subject and who were interested by a small book that I used to travel with
                    and which contained a summary of the British postal rates that I had build up over the years.  Among
                    them I would like to mention James Grimwood-Taylor of Argyll Etkin Ltd, London who provided me
                    with encouragement as well as constructive criticisms, Denis Salt of Shrewsbury (England) for sending
                    me copies of Notices and Arthur White of Wakefield,  MA USA for  getting me  interested in postal
   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11