Good evening

In researching William Gough, I was confused about an apparent conflict of records that showed he passed his lieutenant's examinations in June 1744 and was assigned to a ship as a 3rd lieutenant in January 1744. But it was pointed out to me that the year back then started in March, and so January 1744 came after June, and was in effect the 10th/11th month of 1744. We would then convert it to January 1745, after the old style Julian calendar was changed to the new style Gregorian calendar in 1752.

With baptisms this takes a bit of getting my head around - if the extant record says January 1744, then the baptism happened in what we would now think of as January 1745. If we assume the child to have been born maybe a month earlier, then a month before January 1744 is actually December 1744 by this reckoning (as January 1744 is actually January 1745)?

Can I ask whether all dates given on the parish records search are as they were recorded back then, and have not been altered to reflect Gregorian calendar practice?

Thus, if I find a January or February entry prior to 1752 I can assume that they are actually for the year after what it appears to be?

As well as making some sense of the dates from our perspective this would also help reconcile given ages, if the date of birth is given in the Julian calendar and the date of death is given in the Gregorian calendar.

Best Regards
Jon Davies