Did people shorten years before the 20th century? (Ex: '97, back in '08)

by Daroemar
davepx

The "Crime of '73" springs to mind - late 19th-century I think, but I don't know if it was used as early as the 1870s. And of course California had its '49ers, a still more novel form. Before then Scotland's Jacobite rebellions were known as "the '15" and "the '45", perhaps not long after the latter though again early mentions are elusive.