#british money
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As is tradition with Dracula Daily, let me give you today’s Cultural Lesson Based On Today’s Entry. Let’s talk about money.
See, if you’re thinking Dracula and the characters are handling what we see today as British money, don’t be fooled! Dracula is set in the 1890s, and they use an entirely different money system to what we use now, it just seems on the surface that it’s the same.
For context, if you didn’t know, Britain uses pounds (£) and pence (p) as the currency now, with 100p to £1. This is called decimalisation, and has been in practice since the 1970s. Before then, we were the last country in the world to still use the Roman monetary system.
In the Victorian era, there were 3 used measurements of currency: Pounds (L), Shillings (s) and pence (d), which was written in that order: l.s.d, so a sink in a shop may list the price as 1.7.2, which would be 1 pound, 7 shillings and 2 pence.
Now lets break those down a little more. There are 240 pennies to the pound, and 12 pence to the shilling. That makes 20 shillings to the pound. Most working class laborers would be using shillings as their highest coin in day-to-day living. You could get a pint of beer for a couple of pence. A pound was an incredible amount of money to your average person (maybe less so to the fancy characters of Dracula).
But I want to talk about the coins.
See, a penny was not the lowest coin in circulation. That was a farthing, which was worth ¼ (a quarter) of a penny. Then next was a half penny (or ha’penny if you prefer). Of course there was the penny. Then there was a two pence (tuppence) and a three pence (thrupence) piece. Then you had your half shilling (sixpence, pronounced more like sixpunce, with a ‘u’ rather than an ‘e’), and the shilling itself (twelve pence, remember? Also known colloquially as ‘bob’). Then you had the florin, which was 2 shillings exactly (24 pence). From there you had your half crown, which was worth 2 shillings and six pence, for a total of 30 pence (though you’d never call it that), and then a crown, which was 5 shillings. From there the next step is the half-sovereign, worth half a pound (120 pence, or 10 shillings), and finally the gold sovereign coin, worth £1, or 240 pennys, or 20 shillings.
Yes, that’s genuinely the method of money these characters are using. Some old people insist it was easier than the current system.
Here’s some more fun money facts in case they come up later!
A guinea is a pound and a shilling (1.1.0, or 252 pence), and was used to make things seem a little cheaper to wealthy buyers. It’s used from time to time in Victorian books so it’s worth knowing.
The correct way to read out prices is ‘[x] and [y]’, so say you were selling something and wanted a shilling and fivepence for it, you’d ask for “1 and 5”. This is often used for the stereotypical cost of a half a crown, so when someone in a period drama asks for “2 and 6”, what they’re asking for is 2 shillings and sixpence.
There is a fairly obscure coin that I’m not sure was in circulation at this time which was nicknamed ‘The Barmaid’s grief’, it was only used for a few years. This was worth 4 shillings and was the same shape and (very nearly) size as a crown (5 shillings). So people would buy a pint of beer, the barmaid would pick up the coin in a hurry and not realise that it wasn’t a crown, and give 4 shillings back along with change from a shilling for the beer. So people made money from buying beer. It was not a good time to be a barmaid.
#Dracula daily#money#british money#Yes I also laughed when i found out old british money was written as Lsd#For someone who is not all that interested in coin collecting I love knowing about the old coins!#My dad was a bairn when they changed the coins around. His dad used to keep the old coins for him from the shop and give out the new coinage#Some people of a certain age get the value of shillings mixed up because post decimilsation a shilling could still be used and was worth 5p.#I worked as a social historian for one summer can you tell? I was paid £8.75 an hour to tell people this. So you guys owe me like £3.50#For my work here.
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"it's okay to live with your parents as an adult if you're disabled" "it's okay if it's a cultural thing" "it's okay if you're trying to save mon-" shh. listen. it is okay for any reason. you don't need to have a justification. if your parents are alright with it and you're alright with it you can just do it. peace and love on planet earth etc etc
#im not a dependent and im white and british so it isnt expected that ill stay living with family#and whether or not i need to save money#im planning to stay with my parents after i graduate#just because i want to :) i like my family
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From an iHeart Britain article about old British money: https://www.iheartbritain.com/understanding-british-money-whats-a-quid-a-shilling/
Before decimalisation, British money was made up of pounds, shillings, and pence as follows:
1 pound = 20 shillings
1 shilling = 12 pence
Logically, it follows that you'd have 240 pence to a pound. The symbol for a penny was a “d” (for the Latin denarius), and for a shilling, it was “s” (the Latin solidus). The solidus and denarius were Roman coins, and of course the £ comes from libra. The Romans left more than roads 🙂
Historically, pounds came in either paper bills called notes or a quid, or gold coins called sovereigns. Granted, this was a pretty substantial sum of money, so it's not something an average person would be carrying around until the fairly recent past.
It would be pretty simple if it was just pounds, shillings, and pence, but that would be too easy.
1 mite = 1/8 penny
1 farthing = 1/4 penny
2 farthings = 1 halfpenny (pronounced more like “haypenny”)
2 halfpence = 1 penny (or a ‘copper')
2 pence = 1 tuppence or a half-groat
3 pence = 1 thruppence
4 pence = 1 groat
6 pence = 1 sixpence (a ‘tanner')
12 pence = 1 shilling (a bob)
2 shillings = 1 florin ( a ‘two bob bit')
2 shillings and 6 pence = 1 half crown
5 shillings = 1 Crown
And what about guineas? You've probably heard someone talk about guineas at some point, and that's something a little different. A guinea was a gold coin worth 1 pound, 1 shilling. Often referred to as a “yellowboy”, they were typically used for more professional transactions (such as to pay a barrister or artist). That extra shilling made it somehow more gentlemanly.
One more random old money thing – if you watched the British TV series Goodnight Sweetheart, you'll remember there were a lot of mentions of “white fivers”. They're a particularly interesting note because they were first issued in 1793 when they made the first £5 note. They remained in circulation with relatively few changes until 1956. Unlike modern fivers, they were printed on white paper with blank ink, roughly half the size of a modern A4 page.
Condensed format:
1 mite = 1/8 penny
1 farthing = 1/4 penny
2 farthings = 1 halfpenny (pronounced more like “haypenny”)
2 halfpence = 1 penny (or a ‘copper')
2 pence = 1 tuppence or a half-groat
3 pence = 1 thruppence
4 pence = 1 groat
6 pence = 1 sixpence (a ‘tanner')
12 pence = 1 shilling (a bob)
2 shillings = 1 florin ( a ‘two bob bit')
5 shillings = 1 Crown
20 shillings or 240 pence = 1 pound
1 guinea = 1 pound + 1 shilling
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Porsche Cayman GT4 RS
#porsche#cayman#sports cars#race car#porsche gt4#Porsche gt4 rs#speed#need for speed#green car#green cars#super cars#cars#british racing green#racing#track day#money#luxury
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i have Thoughts about how a lot of the things I see people talk about being the good parts of adulthood are just... not applicable to me because I'm disabled. like I saw a post talking about children's oppression (important!) and it pointed out how so many issues are easily solvable once you are an adult with autonomy.
But I can't drive, I can't cook, I have major issues with self care and cleaning, I struggle with a lot of skills you need to get a job. Being disabled also means I've had to deal with a lot of self-hatred around feeling childish & stupid for not being able to do "adult" activities. A lot of adult privilege is only relevant if you are able to access adult autonomy & respect. This is a nuanced issue of course but I've seen a few posts from people talking about how they were able to escape abusers and toxic environments once they turned 18, but I literally cannot leave mine because I am fully dependent on them. And that's extremely demoralizing. I hope abled people keep this in mind when talking about growing up & adult privilege, especially because hearing stuff like "when you're an adult you'll be able to leave your family and be free" really hurts when you. can't do that and don't know when or if you will be able to do that.
#m.#anyways i have a kofi in my desc if you wanna give a cripple some money#(imagine i am a small British orphan on crutches)#ageism#ableism#youth liberation
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So. After 5 years of waiting. I saw Hadestown live last night. And I am still going Insane from it
#i am so so so happy i did this. all the money and the stress was worth it. i was. oh my god. i can't describe#i know it by heart word for word but i felt like i've never seen it before. the cast slayed. the orchestra killed it.#honestly the british aspects just improved it for me i absolutely loved the regional accents#i cant stop thinking an talking about it. it was insane. it was INSANE.#not only was it as good as i'd hoped it was better. BETTER. DREAM COME TRUE#hadestown liveblog
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My sister's gotten me watching COD MW2 playthroughs and I like the characters and all but every time the British skull man tells the Scottish mohawk man to "Speak english" I kind of want someone to kick him
#Yes it's military propaganda but they haven't won me over and they aren't getting my money so who's winning#I know their names but fucking em up is funnier#The fam ain't been back home with the clan in some 200 years or so but maybe annoyance with the British transcends time and space#LET THE ANGRY SCOT SPEAK
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"A strong queen is just what this country needs!"
The Irish who know the queen in question as the famine queen:
#queen charlotte#queen charlotte a bridgerton story#bridgerton spoilers#a feminist moment for the ultimate anti feminist that was queen victoria#massive yikes just thinking of her involvement in the history of my country alone#over a million people starved & the British Parliament refused to accept financial aid from abroad#if they were offering more money than Victoria because they didn't want them to outdo the queen#and what she gave was pitiful considering her wealth#indigenous people as well as literal enslaved people across the Atlantic gave more financial aid than she did#yes bridgerton is fictional but the historical figures depicted had a real world impact#so much of which is still felt today#and just because Victoria was queen and not a king it doesn't make her crowning a win for feminism#Victoria historically was very very anti feminist#i don't know enough on george iii or Charlotte to comment on them but i know plenty about Victoria#haven't cringed so hard at a line since the famine episode of victoria the things i watch for leo suter#but as much as Victoria herself was portrayed inaccurately in that ep#at least it introduced the history of the famine to people who weren't taught about it at school#bridgerton
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How to tell the royal family don't live in reality: they think that a postcard will help kids deal with a tough Christmas this year instead of, I dunno, actually trying to help the kids in these tough situations.
#uk politics#british royal family#i bet you it didnt cost them shit to make and send those postcards#versus the money they could have used to help the kids dealing with tough christmas rn
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h-how do you ever finish any of your work? genuine question because you seem to be productive despite your agreste syndrome and I need to learn your ways. but also how do you ever finish any of your work
unclear. last night i stayed up and finished a report worth 25% of my grade at about 5am, arrived on time for my 9am lecture, and spent about half of it zoned out while thinking about seventeen year old emilie agreste. and i was one of the most active participants in the class discussion
#in some ways it IS the move to go to grad school right out of undergrad#because your body can still sort of operate like a college kid#i’m on about 3ish hours of sleep rn and this morning it felt SO over but now i’ve eaten something and we’re so back#i also don’t really do caffeine. except sometimes i’ll go get one of those panera death lemonades#i might be able to snag a short nap before work#but anyway about seventeen year old emilie. i was thinking abt how she was in that movie solitude and adrien said she was seventeen#WAIT. NO. HE SAID SHE WAS SEVENTEEN IN THAT PHOTO ON HIS DESKTOP NOT IN THE MOVIE#well. okay whatever i’m gonna tell you what i was thinking about anyway#OKAY i’m back i just checked the wikipedia page and then i watched the end of gorizilla. to make sure i’m not lying. because i’m normal.#anyway i was thinking about the solitude film and how it’s super rare and old and obscure and whatever. and how apparently#emilie wrote it herself and andre produced it#and i’m thinking about how gabe was discovered by audrey and that’s how he got his start in the fashion industry#so now i’m like?? did gabe and emilie first meet on the set of solitude? because gabe was designing costumes or whatever?#and that’s how audrey found him? have people already thought about this??#also i just checked and it doesn’t say emilie’s last name in the credits and also it’s ‘graham films’ with the twin rings logo m#so i’m assuming she’s still emilie graham de vanily at that point#anyway it comes back to seventeen year old emilie because i started imagining seventeen year old runaway emilie having her new life in pari#after escaping her british nobility life#and the first thing she does is write and star in an original movie. of course.#and she meets this repressed bisexual punk upstart costume designer who is so the opposite of everyone she’s ever known#and he’s immediately so unhealthily obsessed with her. which she appreciates.#and then they proceed to have the most toxic doomed evil relationship of all time#also she gets cheated because once gabe gets money he represses himself SO hard that he is now exactly like all the people emilie grew up w#but at least he’s still obsessed with her#this is what i was thinking about during class today. i don’t know how i get anything done either.#ml#anna rambles#asks
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#taika waititi#british royal family#british empire#dirty money#indigenous art#queen elizabeth#our flag means death
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I’m tempted to bring back my fav nickname for current ‘king’ who was the center of attention of the uk media circus this morning: Tampon Charlie
#man fuck the coronation#fuck all this money being spent on useless shit#And fuck people who won’t let protesters protest#it’s their right in a democracy???#or are we finally agreeing to forget that we’re living in a democracy now#uk politics#british royal family#coronation
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I can’t stop thinking about that one voicelog where Paul scolds Bart for not understanding capitalism.
Wanted to make a text post but didn’t know how to explain this scenario so I made a stupid sketch instead (I made this in like 10 minutes, ignore the wonky headshapes and lack of background)
#subnautica#subnautica art#subnautica fanart#bart torgal#ryley robinson#he’s British ofcourse his father is rich#platonic#he doesn’t understand money#probably wasn’t let out of the house till 30#i choose to ignore that he’s been six feet under for like a decade in canon lmao
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Locke wholeheartedly promoted colonial domination (and denial of the right to self-government) in England’s American colonies and in Ireland. In fact, Locke’s commitment to both colonialism and slavery extended back to at least 1669, when he served as secretary to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina, in which capacity he ardently recommended slavery for the new colony—perhaps unsurprising in light of his personal investments in the trade in enslaved Africans. Members of the Locke party were also among the most fervent supporters of England’s wars for imperial power, whose finance was the very raison d’être of the Bank of England—itself effectively a Whig institution, and one in which Locke was also an early investor. Here again we return to the integral link between money and blood. If capital does indeed come into the world “dripping in blood and dirt,” as Marx urged, then so did its intellectual companion, liberalism, in the form of its most famous English exponent. And this Lockean nexus of money–slavery–colonialism was at the heart of liberal political philosophy in England.
David McNally, Blood and Money: War, Slavery, Finance, and Empire
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#james bond#casino royale#old money aesthetic#old money#classy style#posh life#gentleman style#luxury#rich lux#luxury lifestyle#millionaire#rich life#billionaire#luxurious#rich#millionarelifestyle#lifestyle#british
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i cannot for the life of me remember who made that post with the headcanon about the black family losing a lot of their wealth.
but i've been thinking about it a lot. and in england from early to mid 1900s, the aristocracy changed fundamentally as a class, they lost a lot of their previous held power as well as a lot of their money. and because of this, they either had to get a job (the aristocracy is the leisure class. they don't work), which means leaving behind the traditions of your class and your family in order to modernise and keep your money/power, or they could sell off their large estates/lands/artworks in order to keep tradition of the aristocracy as much as they could, but it meant losing a lot of money/power.
there's this quote describing this change in the aristocracy actually- "less power, more prestige". in staying with the traditions of old money, they lose the power they had in government/economy/whatever, but gain lots of admiration and respect from society- like they still have honour and integrity despite losing their money and power, which then becomes their primary tool in still being seen as an influential family.
and with the black family being known as "the noble and most ancient house of black", that definitely could show they chose that pathway. they're clinging onto their lineage of nobility in a time when the aristocracy as a class and the idea of high society is very much falling apart. and unlike quite a lot of these families, they don't modernise but instead keep their heads high and very much make it known that they are nobility and an ancient family, and have no intentions of disrupting this and losing the meaning of what being an aristocrat and a noble used to mean.
#also their motto being “always pure”. like i know its about purebloods and shit#but i do think there's an element of clinging onto traditions#in early 1900s was the rise of celebrities (actors/musicians/writers) surpassing a lot of religious or noble figures in pop culture#and then aristocracts then began to marry these sort of new money celebrities (although not all of them new money#i just mean not following traditions of high society and upper class#and the always pure motto could be very much a clear statement of outrage at this. of class becoming less about lineage#and more about who's the got the bigger wallets and the better parties#sorry i'm doing a module in uni rn about the monarchy and the british classes in early to mid 1900s soo#marauders era#marauders#the black family#the noble and most ancient house of black
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