Why did many people from the British Empire miss their birthdays in $1752?$ When the switch was made from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian calendar, eleven days had to be eliminated The British Empire had the same number of days in its calendar as the Gregorian calendar, but the numbers of the days were different. When it switched, it had to "lose" days to get in sync with the Gregorian calendar The British Church, in an effort to distance itself from the Roman Catholic Church, arbitrarily changed its calendar for a few decades