Baker Street Elementary
Presents
“The Life and Times in Victorian London”
Baker Street Elementary
The Life and Times in Victorian London
# 021 – London no Elven Shillings a Day - – 02/20/201 7
Copyright 2017, Sherwood-Fabre, Fay, Mason, Mason
Welcome to topic number 21 … today
Master Paget and I will be looking at
the coins of Victorian England
Right you are John… the canon
references a variety of coins and their
nicknames, common enough for readers
in our time, but quite confusing for
those in the twenty- first century.
Even more perplexing is the
basis for our monetary
system, a non- decimal
classification involving
dozens and scores, instead
of the decimal system which
will be introduced in 1 971 .
In A Study in Scarlet, when you
will report a daily income of eleven
shillings and sixpence after your
return from India, how will future
readers interpret it?
In our time, the British
monetary system is based on
the penny, the shilling, and
the pound; and coins are
minted in various portions and
quantities of those.
The penny, the oldest,
can be traced back to a
seventh- century thick,
silver Anglo- Saxon coin
referred to as denarii.
The variations on the penny, the plural being pence,
include the:
• Farthing (one- fourth of a penny), introduced during
the reign of Edward III (1 31 2- 1 377)
• Halfpenny, entered into circulation in 1 672
• Twopence, minted only in 1 797 of two pence worth
of copper
The variations on the penny also include the:
• Groat (four pence), introduced during the
reign of Edward I (1 272- 1 307) and then
issued on an irregular basis until 1 856 when
minting ceased in the UK, and
• Sixpence, also known as a tanner, first issued
in 1 551 with a value of half a shilling
The shilling — or bob — is a silver coin worth twelve
pence and first minted in 1 504.
The different denominations are:
• The florin, or two shillings, which is a failed
attempt in 1 849 to replace the half- crown
The different denominations also include:
• The double florin (four shillings), one
of the most short- lived coins, being
minted only between 1 887 and 1 890
• The half- crown, worth two shillings
and sixpence, first issued in 1 465 and
only demonetized in 1 969.
• The crown, worth five shillings—or
one- quarter pound—first minted in
1 707
• The half sovereign, ten shillings, first
introduced in 1 544, discontinued in
1 604, but reintroduced in 1 81 7
The pound coin, or sovereign, is equal to 20 shillings (or 240
pence) and is made of gold.
The guinea, worth twenty- one shillings, was discontinued in
1 81 3, but people still use the term when referring to the
cost for luxury goods.
Our 1 200- year- old system will
change in 1 971 , when the
country will shift to a decimal
system.
On February 1 5, 1 971 , the
pound will become equal to 1 00
“new” pence.
The government will also issue a five pence and ten pence piece
(about the same size as the shilling and the two shilling coins)
after withdrawing the halfpenny and half- crown in 1 969, and
devaluing the farthing in 1 960.
The new system, as well as different standards with
respect to prices and goods, makes the translation of
Victorian costs into twenty- first century currency difficult.
According to MeasuringWorth. com,
your daily income of eleven shillings
and sixpence, will translate into a
variety of different amounts, ranging
from £375 as a weekly standard of
living to £6, 21 0 as the share of the
GDP in 201 5.
This means my income in 1 881
would put me in 201 7 below the
median income, but above the
current poverty level by only 6
percentage points.
The median income in the UK
around 201 7 will be
£569. 33/week, and the poverty
level for a single person will
£206/week (60% of the median
income).
This would explain your
need for a roommate.
You know my mother always tells my father,
“Whoever said money can't buy happiness,
simply doesn't know where to shop.
The cost of living for one person in
London in 201 7 will be about
£605/week.
This translates into a required
standard of living of between £6 and
£7 per week for us in 1 881 .
With your daily income translating to a
little more than £4/week in 1 881 , it is
clear living in London will put a strain
on your resources.
Seeking shared quarters will certainly be the prudent answer for
your desire to remain in the city, and will result in a life- long
friendship with the most famous consulting detective in the world.
Not to mention some
decent residual cheques
for you in the future…
So we have completed
topic 21 in our series…
Yes, but we’ll be back
with another topic
soon…
References for this topic:
• Doyle, Arthur Conan; Ryan, Robert. The Complete Sherlock Holmes
(Kindle Edition).
• Sally Mitchell, Daily Life in Victorian England (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 1996).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_English_penny_(c._600_
%E2%80%93_1066)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
Baker Street Elementary
“The Life and Times in Victorian London”
IS CREATED THROUGH THE INGENUITY & HARD WORK OF:
JOE FAY
LIESE SHERWOOD-FABRE
RUSTY MASON
&
STEVE MASON