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Prices in 1888 Victorian London

I found these prices for goods in a book about Victorian London in 1888.

From
The Complete History of Jack the Ripper
by Philip Sugden
Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. NEW YORK
1994

In 1888,
A pound (£.) was worth around 5 US dollars,
a shilling (s.) was worth around 25 US cents,
a penny (d.) was worth around 2 US cents.

Page 22:
For three years he allowed her twelve shillings a week. Then, because she was given to pestering him for money in the street and had taken up with another man, he reduced her weekly allowance to only 2s. 6d.
Page 23:
She was then in a destitute condition and he gave her 1s. 6d. to buy stock 'with which to earn a few ha'pence.' He never saw her alive again.
Page 35:
When the lodging house deputy turned her away because she did not have the 4d. for a bed she was far from dispirited and asked the deputy to keep her bed for her while she went out to get the money.
Page 43:
Nichols paid Polly an allowance of 5s. a week which he stopped in 1881 or 1882 upon learning that she was living with another man.
Page 45:
He did not learn, for instance, that on 12 July Polly absconded from her employer stealing clothing worth £3 10s.
Page 74:
At the fourpenny lodging house off Brick Lane...
Page 78:
...needed money for lodging. Smith gave her 2s.
Page 79:
Annie paid 8d. for a double bed.
Page 80:
Liza once more asked for her soap but Annie testily threw a halfpenny down on the table and said, 'Go and get a halfpennyworth of soap.'
Page 81 :
'No,' replied Annie, 'I haven't had a cup of tea today.' Amelia gave her 2d. to get some but told her not to spend it on rum.
Page 110:
On the following Monday the Daily Telegraph printed another fable: 'There were also found two farthings polished brightly, and, according to some, these coins had been passed off as half-sovereigns upon the deceased by her murderer.'
Page 155:
He had been a medical student; he had been in a lunatic asylum; he spent all his time with women of loose character, whom he bilked by giving them polished farthings instead of sovereigns, two of those farthings having been found in the pocket of the murdered woman.
Page 164:
... to hear a trader extol the qualities of new trousers at 9s. 6d. a pair.
Page 197:
On Saturday morning she cleaned two rooms and Mrs. Tanner paid her sixpence.
Page 197:
'I know the deceased had sixpence when she left,' said Mrs. Lane.
Page 221:
'I say, old man, how do you sell your grapes?' 'Sixpence a pound the black 'uns, sir,' replied Packer, 'and four pence a pound the white 'uns.'
Page 237:
Kelly managed to earn sixpence 'at a job' but this was not good enough to buy them a double bed for the night at Cooney's (single beds were priced at 4d. per night, doubles at 8d.)
Page 265:
The wrapping in which the parcel had arrived bore two penny stamps and a postmark.
Page 301:
... that many prostitutes were forced to ply their trade in order to earn the fourpenny doss, that if they did not do so they would be obliged to walk the streets all night.
Page 307:
... but the house had been let out in furnished rooms and Mary's, partitioned off from the rest of the house, commanded a rent of 4s. 6d. a week.
Page 308:
She was probably the 'Mary Jane Kelley', aged twenty-two, who was fined 2s. 6d. at Thames Magistrates' Court on 19 September 1888 for being drunk and disorderly...
Page 345:
From 7 December 1888 Munro procured an extra allowance of one shilling a day for 1 inspector, 9 sergeants and 126 constables employed on these patrols.

And Jack's visit to the Royal Mint:
Page 352:
But then, turning left into Swallow Gardens, a short passage that led under a dismal railway arch into Royal Mint Street, he saw something lying in the middle of the roadway under the arch.
Page 354:
Sergeant Edwards saw Sadler outside the Royal Mint only fifteen minutes before Frances died.

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Comments

  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ah, yes. One always thinks of Jack when holding an 1888 penny.

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  • SYRACUSIANSYRACUSIAN Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭
    Interesting stuff.

    So she was paid a sixpence for cleaning two rooms on Saturday morning, but this was not enough to buy a pound of white grapes (4d) and pay for a single bed to spend the night at the lodging house (4d). I wonder what the same night would have costed at the Savoy back then... image
    Dimitri



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    DPOTD 3
  • ajaanajaan Posts: 17,070 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>'No,' replied Annie, 'I haven't had a cup of tea today.' Amelia gave her 2d. to get some but told her not to spend it on rum. >>


    image

    DPOTD-3
    'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'

    CU #3245 B.N.A. #428


    Don
  • SYRACUSIANSYRACUSIAN Posts: 6,445 ✭✭✭✭
    Yeah, I've noticed that too. image She could always opt for opium instead, at the time still legal and cheaper than wine.
    Dimitri



    myEbay



    DPOTD 3
  • DoogyDoogy Posts: 4,508
    a neat thread i found today, and thought it deserved a bump!

  • MacCrimmonMacCrimmon Posts: 7,051 ✭✭✭


    << <i>Ah, yes. One always thinks of Jack when holding an 1888 penny. >>




    'ere's yer bloody rippah!!! image


    image
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,194 ✭✭✭✭✭
    'At's a rippah, awright. image

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