Knowing he was dying, Thomas Clifton of Sutton Coldfield made his will on the eighth of November 1684, and he was buried five days later, on November thirteenth 1684. Francis Clifton, son of Thomas, was the executor of the will, and in order to prove the will it was necessary for two neighbours, Richard Rogerson and Thomas Freeman, to value Clifton’s goods and chattels, and this was done on January 3^rd. In practice, most people thought of January 1^st as new year’s day, the beginning of 1685, but legally the new year did not begin until March 25^th, so the inventory of goods and chattels is dated the “ third day of January Anno Domini 1684”.

This confusing situation, where the new year officially began on Lady Day, March 25^th, but most people celebrated New Year’s Day on January the first, was resolved by Act of Parliament - the "Calendar Act" of 1751 An Act for Regulating the Commencement of the Year; and for Correcting the Calendar now in Use. Officially, 1751 began on March 25^th and ended on December 31^st, a nine-month year.

The Calendar Act also changed us from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar; the two calendars were out of step, January 1^st in the Julian being the same day as January 12^th in the Gregorian, and so in 1752 September 2^nd was followed by September 14^th. This meant the loss of some Saints days, particularly the Nativity of the Virgin Mary on September 8^th, so there was a move to celebrate saints days according to the old Julian Calendar. St Simon and St. Jude’s day is October 28^th, and if this was celebrated in 1752 according to the old calendar it would officially be November 8^th, so the Warden of Sutton was in a quandary. The Town Charter stipulated that the Autumn Fair must be held on St. Jude’s Day, but should this be 28^th October, 8^th November, or even a fair on both days? The Warden took legal advice (the letter is in the Borough Records), and held the fair on October 28^th new style.

In earlier centuries documents were dated by a different system - a charter of February 2^nd 1252 is dated “Hec carta facta fuit ad purificacione beate marie anno regno regis Henrici filii regis Johannis xxx septimo (this charter was made on the feast of the Purification of Saint Mary in the year of the reign of King Henry son of King John the thirty-seventh). The Sutton Court Roll of 20^th October 1416 is headed “the Tuesday after St. Luke’s day in the fourth year of the reign of Henry the fifth since the Conquest”. Dating by regnal year gave extra work to the scribes, as the heading for the 1558 court shows “in the year of the reigns of Phillip and Mary by God’s grace King and Queen of England Spain France and also of Sicily Jerusalem and Ireland defenders of the faith Archduke of Austria Duke of Burgundy Milan and Brabant Count of Hapsburg Flanders and Tyrol 5^th and 6^th.”^.