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Victorian Currency
Casebook Message Boards: General Discussion: General Topics:
Victorian Currency
Author: Jon
Saturday, 23 December 2000 - 11:39 pm |        | For those interested in the contemporary currency, the article below should just about cover it.
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Pounds, shillings, and pence
The coinage used in Victorian Britain had been much the same for three hundred years and was based on a system which had existed for more than a thousand years. It lasted until 1971 when the currency was finally decimalised and the pound was divided into 100 smaller units. Similar changes were made to the currency in several members of the Commonwealth which still used Britain's ancient coinage system.
In Britain the pound Sterling was (and is) the central unit of money. Prior to decimalization the pound was divided into twenty shillings and each shilling was divided into twelve pennies or pence. Although this system seems odd, having a pound divided into 240 equal parts does mean that the pound can be exactly divided into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths, fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths, forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths. A decimal system allows only halves, quarters, fifths, tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths, and fiftieths.
Amounts of money were written in various ways. The pound was represented, as it still is, by a £ sign, the shilling by a 's' and the penny by a 'd' (for 'denarius', a Roman silver coin which was also used as the name for the English silver penny). So the meaning of £3-4s-6d is fairly obvious. But amounts below a pound were also written '12/6' meaning 12s-6d or '10/=' meaning ten shillings. An amount such as 12/6 would be pronounced 'twelve and six' as a more casual form of 'twelve shillings and sixpence'. From the late eighteenth century a shilling was popularly called a 'bob' as in 'it cost three bob'. But you would only use that for whole shillings so it would be 'three bob' or 'three and eight' but never 'three bob and six'.
The guinea
A guinea was £1-1s-0d (which is £1.05) and could be written as '1g' or '1gn' or, in the plural, '3gs' or '3gns'. It was considered a more gentlemanly amount than £1. You paid tradesmen, such as a carpenter, in pounds but gentlemen, such as an artist, in guineas. It was a tradition in the legal profession that a barrister was paid in guineas but kept only the pounds, giving his clerk the shillings.
The standard rate paid by Dickens for contributions to Household Words and All The Year Round was half a guinea a column or a guinea a page. His staff members were generally paid five guineas a week. Wilkie Collins was paid five-eighths of a guinea a page for his work in Bentley's Miscellany in the early 1850s which was ten guineas for a printed sheet of sixteen pages. Per word both amounts were similar.
The guinea could also be divided exactly into many different amounts - halves, thirds, quarters, sixths, sevenths, ninths, fourteenths, twenty-firsts, twenty-eighths, thirty-sixths, forty-seconds, sixty-thirds, eighty-fourths, and one-hundred-and-twenty-sixths. One useful factor was that a third of a guinea was exactly seven shillings.
Coins
The coinage reflected the principal divisions of the money and added some of its own. A gold coin worth £1 was called a sovereign and the half sovereign, also in gold, was worth ten shillings. These coins were first minted in 1819 as a response to the rather uncertain value of earlier gold coins. Both were current throughout Victoria's reign. A crown was a silver coin worth 5/=- though much more common was the half-crown worth 2/6 or exactly one eighth of a pound. The shilling was also a silver coin as were the sixpence and the threepence (usually pronounced and sometimes spelt 'thruppence'). The coin was sometimes called a thrupp'ny bit. Silver coins called groats worth four pence were also minted and were sometimes called Joeys (a term also used in the mid-twentieth century for threepenny bits when they were no longer made of silver). Half-groats and silver pennies were not in circulation but were still minted for a tradition known as Maundy Money where the Monarch gave poor people in a parish a groat, a threepence, a half groat and a penny. The number of poor people favoured in this way was the same as the number of the monarch's years.
The tradition still goes on, although now the number of people honoured is as many men and as many women as the monarch's years and they each get the same number of pence as the monarch's years. For example, in 20 April 2000 the 74-year-old Queen Elizabeth II gave out 74 pence (seven and a bit sets of a groat, a threepence, a half-groat and a penny) of Maundy money to each of 74 men and 74 women - aged from 70 to 97 - in Lincoln Cathedral. The sets come in an official purse and some recipients immediately sell the sets to waiting dealers. In 2000 they also got a second purse containing a commemorative £5 and 50p coin.
Lower value coins were made of copper (bronze from 1860). The penny was accompanied by the halfpenny (pronounced hape-nee and sometimes written ha'penny) and the farthing, worth a quarter of a penny. Half farthings were also minted for some of Victoria's reign but were unpopular because of their small size. Smaller coins - one third and one quarter farthings - were minted mainly for use in some British colonies. For most people the penny was still the central coin of their currency and was used in words like 'penn'orth' meaning a penny-worth of something as in 'I'll take a penn'orth of tobacco' and also as in 'it's a good penn'orth, sir' meaning it is good value for your penny. These coins were referred to as 'coppers' as in 'It cost a few coppers'. Not to be confused with the slang meaning of 'a copper' from the early Victorian period of 'a policeman'.
Although all this can seem very confusing to people brought up with purely decimal coinage - like dollars and cents, euros and cents or the present day currency of almost every major country in the world - it became second nature to most people. Money calculations were part of a basic education along with the alphabet and multiplication tables. In Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, the young Pip is subject to endless mental arithmetic tests by Mr Pumblechook. One of them involves money.
"First (to get our thoughts in order) : Forty-three pence?"
I calculated the consequences of replying "Four Hundred Pounds," and, finding them against me, went as near the answer as I could -- which was about eightpence off. Mr. Pumblechook then put me through my pence-table from "twelve pence make one shilling," up to "forty pence make three and fourpence," and then triumphantly demanded, as if he had done for me, "Now! How much is forty-three pence?" To which I replied, after a long interval of reflection, "I don't know." And I was so aggravated that I almost doubt if I did know.
Mr. Pumblechook worked his head like a screw to screw it out of me, and sais, "Is forty-three pence seven and sixpence three fardens, for instance?"
"Yes!" said I. And although my sister instantly boxed my ears, it was highly gratifying to me to see that the answer spoilt his joke, and brought him to a dead stop.
(Great Expectations, chapter IX)
Forty-three pence is, of course, three shillings and sevenpence. And a 'farden' is a farthing.
Even more obscure for anyone not familiar with the peculiarities of pre-decimal English coinage is this passage from Dickens' Bleak House where the total price of a meal for three people is rapidly assessed by one of the diners for the benefit of the waitress, Polly.
Mr. Smallweed, compelling the attendance of the waitress with one hitch of his eyelash, instantly replies as follows: "Four veals and hams is three, and four potatoes is three and four, and one summer cabbage is three and six, and three marrows is four and six, and six breads is five, and three Cheshires is five and three, and four half-pints of half-and-half is six and three, and four small rums is eight and three, and three Pollys is eight and six. Eight and six in half a sovereign, Polly, and eighteenpence out!"
Not at all excited by these stupendous calculations, Smallweed dismisses his friends with a cool nod and remains behind to take a little admiring notice of Polly, as opportunity may serve, and to read the daily papers, which are so very large in proportion to himself, shorn of his hat, that when he holds up the Times to run his eye over the columns, he seems to have retired for the night and to have disappeared under the bedclothes.
Bleak House Chapter XX
From this rather impenetrable paragraph we can deduce the price of everything on the menu which the three men - Jobling, Guppy, and Smallweed - ate. Smallweed adds up the amounts in his head and keeps a running total of the bill as he does so.
The three of them ate four helpings of veal and ham with french beans - Jobling had two. The total, Smallweed says, "is three" or three shillings. Three shillings is 36d so each veal and ham was 9d. Such calculations, knowing that four ninepences were three shillings, would have been second nature to most Victorians. Jobling also had double potatoes and four helpings of potatoes make the total "three and four". So they are a penny a portion bringing the total to 3s 4d. Jobling's summer cabbage - no-one else ate that - adds another 2d - total now 3s 6d or "three and six". After this came a helping each of marrow pudding taking the bill from "three and six" to "four and six" in other words adding a shilling. So each helping must have been 4d as there are twelve pennies in a shilling. Six helpings of bread (two a piece) at 1d each adds 6d making 5/="is five". A portion of Cheshire cheese is also 1d, add three of those to get to 5s 3d (five and three). Four half pints of half and half - a drink comprising equal measures of ale and stout, two different kinds of beer - add a shilling taking the total from "five and three" to "six and three" or 6s 3d. Jobling had drunk two and they are 3d each. Four small rums are clearly 6d each, four making 24d or 2/=, bringing the total to 8s 3d "eight and three". And finally, Polly's waitressing service for three people is 1d each adding threepence to make a final total of 8s 6d. Smallweed gives Polly half a sovereign, which is ten shillings, leaving 1s 6d change or, as Mr Smallweed puts it, "and eighteenpence out!" Simple!
The Florin
The Victorians introduced one new coin intended as the first step towards a decimal system of coinage. A two shilling coin, exactly a tenth of a pound, was first minted in 1849. It was called a florin and it was minted for nearly 120 years until 1968 when, in preparation for decimalisation, a coin of the same size became the new ten pence piece. The florin was also called the two-shilling-piece or the two-bob-bit. It did not oust the popular half a crown, usually called a half-crown, worth 2s-6d, which also remained until decimalisation. Even in the 1960s auctioneers at country sales would move the bidding on in half-crowns. The bid between five and ten shillings was always 'three half-crowns'. A double florin was minted in 1887 but was not popular. Guineas were not minted after 1813. In the eighteenth century half, third, and quarter guineas were also minted. Two and five guinea coins belonged to an earlier age.
Up to the present
On decimalisation in 1971, the pound was divided into 100 new pennies worth 2.4 pence. The ancient plural of 'pence' was retained (the two have always run in parallel, the plural for the coins usually being 'pennies' and for an amount being generally 'pence'). However, the symbol for the new penny was 'p' rather than 'd' and small amounts of money are often nowadays referred to as so many 'pee' - 'twenty pee', '94 pee' etc. The prefix 'new' disappeared from the language within ten years and was dropped from the coinage in 1982. The ten pence and five pence coins (equivalent to the two shilling and one shilling pieces) were phased in from 1968 and the new fifty pence piece was first issued in 1969 to replace the ten shilling note.
Ireland took a similar route to the United Kingdom. But some of the Commonwealth countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, adopted a different approach creating a new 'dollar' worth ten shillings which was divided into a hundred cents, each worth 1.2 old pennies.
Coins v. 1.40 (adding passaage from Bleak House)
Paul Lewis
September 1999
site address: http://www.deadline.demon.co.uk/wilkie/coins.htm |
Author: stephen borsbey
Sunday, 24 December 2000 - 05:43 am | | THANKS,paul very interesting . for anyone wondering how the joey was named, it was after the M.P. joseph hume who campaigned for its return to coinage as a useful piece of cab change.most journeys were 4d and people usually tendered 6d. leaving 2d as a tip.the double florin or 4 shilling bit was unpopular as it was almost the same size as the crown and mistaken as such
by shopkeepers and barmaids ,so one shilling too much change was given...i have an 1888 example in my collection.... |
Author: Scott Russell Chapman
Thursday, 01 March 2001 - 04:25 pm | | Hi All,
Well a couple of questions really;
firstly why are policemen callen 'Coppers'?
And how much was £400 then , in todays money?
Thanks, Scott |
Author: Christopher T George
Thursday, 01 March 2001 - 11:01 pm | | Hi, Scott:
The following appears to give the origin of the word "cop" or "copper" from an English language FAQ at http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~nickson/aueFAQ.html#a94
"cop"
does not stand for "constable on patrol" or "constabulary of police." The noun "cop" (first attested meaning policeman" in 1859) is short for "copper" (first attested meaning "policeman" in 1846). "Copper" in this sense is unlikely to derive from copper buttons or shields worn by early policemen. Rather, dictionaries derive it from "to cop" (first attested meaning "to grab" in 1704 and meaning "to arrest" in 1844). "To cop" may come Dutch kapen = "to steal"; or it may come from Old French dialect caper = "to take", from Latin capere.
As you may know, a Cockney term is "It's a fair cop!" a saying that a burglar might say to the policeman who has arrested him with the goods, so here we can see that "cop" might well derive from "to take."
You also asked what was the value of £400 in 1888 -- a hell of a lot of money! When we consider that most people earned less than a pound a week (14 or 16 shillings a week), £400 would have been the equivalent of thousands in today's money. |
Author: Caroline Anne Morris
Friday, 02 March 2001 - 03:59 am | | Hi Scott,
As Chris says, a copper is someone who cops a criminal. My Chambers gives cop as a slang verb to capture, catch, acquire or get. A cop-shop is slang for a police station.
Talking of slang terms for policemen, according to Henry Mayhew, writing in the mid 1800s, costermongers used a kind of backward slang, which came in useful when warning each other of a copper's approach: Cool the esclop meant "Look at the police" or "watch out, there's a copper about".
Love,
Caz |
Author: Martin Fido
Friday, 02 March 2001 - 09:10 am | | In addition to the 'cop=grab or arrest' etymology, some slang collectors relate cop to the 19th century back-slang 'ecilop', sometimes pronounced 'esklop'.
Martin Fido |
Author: Caroline Anne Morris
Friday, 02 March 2001 - 09:26 am | | Er, excuse me, am I so totally invisible?
I'll get me coat :-)
Love,
Caz |
Author: Warwick Parminter
Friday, 02 March 2001 - 11:12 am | | I honestly thought the term "cop" was American,--and I didn't know the origin of the term. I would have taken it for granted that the police in 1888 would have been known as "Bobbies", or "Peelers", after their founder Sir Robert Peel. Maybe "Peeler"is going back a little too far even for 1888, but I would have thought in Cockney London the common term for policeman was "Bobby", and it's a name still used today, by oldtimers. Somehow the name "Cop" brings to mind the picture of a tough American policeman.
Rick |
Author: Wolf Vanderlinden
Friday, 02 March 2001 - 11:48 am | | In regards to the term cop possibly meaning "to take", early, pre Robert Peel, guardians of the common good were called "thief takers". Just an observation.
Wolf. |
Author: Leanne Perry
Saturday, 03 March 2001 - 07:13 am | | G'day,
Robert Peel formed the Metropolitan Police Force in 1829. It was met with much objection from the public, so they were called "Bobbies" and "Peelers". This was meant to be an insult!
The 1860s, 1870s and 1880s saw much public and political unrest. 'Bloody Sunday' was in 1887, so I don't think "Peeler" is going back too far for 1888, Rick. If the name: "Bobby" was 'born' at the same time as "Peeler", I'd say they were still using both, wouldn't you?
I thought "Bobby" was still used today, as an affectionate name! I think it's sweet! Am I right?
LEANNE! |
Author: Leanne Perry
Saturday, 03 March 2001 - 07:21 am | | G'day again,
My Grandfather who was an Australian Detective Sergeant, used to call himself a: "COPPER"! He used to "COP" people!......."CATCH".
LEANNE! |
Author: Warwick Parminter
Saturday, 03 March 2001 - 09:19 am | | Hiya Leanne,
right again, as you nearly always are. J I like the term, it sounds friendly,like all the policemen I've had the pleasure to come into contact with. Do you remember that rather sickly song of the sixties, "Eng-a-land swings like a pendulum do, BOBBIES on bicycles, two by two", sung by Roger Miller, God, it would be nice to see them patrol the streets like that again.
All the Best Rick |
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