One of the most famous of British institutions was its currency. Prior to 1971, all British currency was Imperial, and this led to confusion and misunderstandings by people who were not natives of the United Kingdom. We often read old books which tell us that something cost a half-crown, a shilling, a florin, a groat or a guinea…what were all these coins and how much were they worth?
Welcome to the confusing world of pre-decimal British currency. After 1971, British currency was decimalised and revalued so that a hundred pennies equaled one pound sterling. But before that, the British people had a whole array of coins at their disposal. So, what were they?
Pre-Decimal British Coinage
1. Farthing – The smallest coin in pre-decimal currency, a farthing was 1/4 of a penny.
2. Ha’penny – Or ‘Half penny’, it was 1/2 of a penny in value.
3. Penny – Still around today, a penny was 1/12th of a shilling and 1/240th of a pound.
4. Tuppence – ‘Two pennies’.
5. Thripence – ‘Three pennies’.
6. Sixpence – ‘Six pennies’, also known as a ‘tanner’. This was half a shilling.
7. Shilling – Also known as a ‘bob’, a shilling was 12 pence and 1/20th of a pound.
8. Pound Sterling – A pound sterling was 20 shillings, or 240 pence. Colloquially known as a ‘Quid’. Five pound notes and ten pound notes were popularly called ‘Fivers’ and ‘Tenners’ respectively (and still are, today).
9. Sovereign – Another name for a pound.
10. Crown – A crown was five shillings, or a quarter of a pound.
11. Half-Crowns – A half-crown was…half of a crown, or two shillings and sixpence (half a shilling).
12. Guinea – One pound and one shilling (21s).
13. Florin – Was two shillings (24 pence) or 1/10th of a pound.
14. Double Florin – Was four shillings (48 pence) or 1/5th of a pound.
15. Groat – A groat was fourpence, or four pennies, in value. 1/3 of a shilling. Also known as a ‘Joey’.
The justification for minting a four-penny coin came from the fact that back in the Victorian era, London cabbies started rates for transport at four pence. Usually, passengers gave the driver sixpence for tuppence change. This was deemed inconvenient and slow by some, so the fourpence was introduced for speed and convenience. Fourpence was also the price charged by some doss-houses (cheap boarding houses) in London’s disreputable East End for the use of a bed for the night.
L, S, D
“…Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s.,lunch 2s. 6d., glass sherry, 8d…” – Sherlock Holmes, reading a hotel bill, “The Noble Bachelor”.
LSD. What’s it mean and what do the letters stand for? First, you can forget about drugs, that’s not what it’s referring to. The letters actually stand for “librae”, “solidi” and “denarii”, which stand, in-turn, for Pounds (A loopy ‘L’ with either one or two lines through it, make up the Pound Sterling symbol), Shillings (The “S”) and Pence (the “D”, later changed to “P” in 1971 with the decimalisation of British currency).
Therefore, the bill, as an example, reads as:
Rooms: 8 Shillings.
Breakfast: 2 shillings and sixpence (or half a crown).
Cocktail: 1 shilling.
Lunch: 2 shillings and sixpence (or half a crown).
Sherry, one glass: 8 pence.
Monetary Slang
Two and six, three and four, and so on and so forth. As we have seen, currency in pre-decimal Britain was a maze of coins, banknotes, values and names. Here are some common phrases or slang-terms for old British currency…
‘Ha’penny’, ‘Tuppence’, ‘thripence’, ‘fourpence’ and ‘tanner’.
Stand, respectively, for a half-penny, two pennies, three pennies and four pennies. ‘Tanner’ was a slang-term which referred specifically to the silver sixpence coin.
‘Bob’ was slang-term for a shilling.
‘Two-and-six’ referred to two shillings and sixpence, or a half-crown.
‘Quid’ was (and still is) slang for a pound sterling.
‘Fiver’ and ‘tenner’ referred (and still do refer) to five and ten pound banknotes.