Old Money WW1

[o j kirby]

Hello,

I have read that the Brodie pattern steel helmet was manufactured at a cost of 4/6d.

 

Can anyone tell me as to how much that would be in today's money in U.K. currency, and what proportion of a WW1 Private soldiers' wage would constitute 4 shillings and six pence?

 

Many thanks,

 

Owain.

[ss002d6252]

4s 6 d seems to be roughly £20 now -

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1633409/Historic-inflation-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html

 

Wages changed but in 1914 a Private started on 1s per day.

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/soldiers/a-soldiers-life-1914-1918/british-army-rates-pay-1914/

 

I think the problem is that 'purchasing power', i.e. what you got for the money, has changed somewhat.

Craig

[PRC]

6 minutes ago, o j kirby said:

Can anyone tell me as to how much that would be in today's money in U.K. currency,

 

There are various ways of calculating it, plus it also depends on what year you were using as inflation itself was a major problem during the war years. Are we talking 4/6d in 1916 or 1918, etc.

 

Also the online sources I use to get a feel for monetary equivalence work in terms of whole pounds.

 

Thus this site https://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation2.html

says that £1 in 1918 would be the equivalent of £39.73 in 2020.

 

With 20 shillings in the pound and 12 pence in the shilling the equivalent for 4/6d would be £39.73 / 20 *4.5 = £8.94.

 

 - Just seen Craig's post which just shows how many different ways of calculating this and the potential for a wide variation.

 

Cheers,

Peter

 

[Alan24]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

Thus this site https://www.moneysorter.co.uk/calculator_inflation2.html

says that £1 in 1918 would be the equivalent of £39.73 in 2020.

Interesting link. Must have been high inflation during the Great War

 

£1000 in 1914 = £80,673.47 today

£1000 in 1918 = £39,728.64 today

 

Value halved.

 

 

[kenf48]

38 minutes ago, Alan24 said:

Must have been high inflation during the Great War

 

There was.

 

A.H. Halsey 'British Social Trends since 1900' takes a baseline of 100 for the period 1900 -1910 and shows that in 1913 the average wage rate for a manual worker had increased to 106 and the 'Cost of Living'  to 108. In 1918 the average wage rate was 185-191 and cost of living 216.  At the very end of 1918 there was closer parity between wages and the cost of living  and wages increased and the cost of living fell throughout the next two decades.

 

Statistics need to be treated with caution, especially when making comparisons with today as inflation was not calculated in the same way, i.e. by a 'basket' of goods which is constantly changing.  The Ministry of Food calculated the average family spent 60 per cent more on food between 1914 and 1918 than they had done before the war.

Unfortunately averages hide the variations in different industries some of which suffered real financial hardship in the wartime economy.

 

One interesting fact that chimes with today is that when food shopping in 1917 some shoppers were obliged to use their own bags as there was a shortage of paper.

No single use paper bags!

 

Ken

 

[seaJane]

The National Archives have this http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/ which also says:

 

You can find an inflation calculator from 1209 to 2017 at www.bankofengland.co.uk, and comparators (for the UK and various other countries) from 1270 to 2017 at measuringworth.com.

Calculations based on the retail price index may not always be appropriate: comparisons based on average earnings or gross domestic product per head may be more suitable. You can find comparators of both kinds at measuringworth.com, along with explanations of each type of calculation and of the sources on which they are based.