Despite the British government promoting the changes with the catchy phrase ‘The New Style The True Style’ public discontentment was increasingly fuelled over concerns that the daily lives of ordinary citizens would be altered for the worse rather than for the better.

The changes affected festivals, Saints days and birthdays but more importantly for citizens interfered with the dates of wage payments, as well as altering administration contracts set up for trade and the delivery of goods around the country. A climate of anxiety and paranoia then nurtured a growing culture of myths and illogical beliefs amongst a largely illiterate population, such as the notion that the Gregorian calendar was literally stealing 11 days out of people’s lives and taking them to their graves sooner as opposed to later.