{"id":2897,"date":"2025-07-27T11:46:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T10:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2025-07-27T11:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T10:46:07","slug":"worth-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/27\/worth-today\/","title":{"rendered":"What is \u00a3x worth today?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“What is \u00a3x worth today?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s something all family historians ask at some point. Usually when they have found the will of an ancestor. It\u2019s only natural to wonder how comfortably off (or not) they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, the go-to source to calculate a comparison is the Bank of England\u2019s Inflation Calculator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which you can find here<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there are huge caveats to the results<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Household furniture etc at time of his death\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1833, the inventory for Thomas Pattinson, of Westfield House, \u2018in the parish of Bowness, in the county of Cumberland\u2019 came to a total of: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u00a312 9 shillings and 6 pence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

According to the Bank of England\u2019s inflation calculator, in 2025, that (rounded up to \u00a313) is worth:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u00a31,340.62.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Doesn\u2019t make Thomas Pattinson (a yeoman farmer) sound exactly wealthy, does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But read the small print on the Bank of England\u2019s Inflation Calculator site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Over long periods, the definitions of goods and services included in the price index have changed. For example, a family\u2019s food and clothes today are very different to those of a typical family a hundred years ago<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018<\/em>Overall, these features of the data mean that comparisons of prices further back in time and over long periods are less accurate than comparisons over short periods in recent years.<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s the later paragraph that\u2019s key when working out what old sums are worth today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go back to Thomas Pattinson of Westfield House to see why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Pattinson\u2019s \u2018goods and chattels\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, it\u2019s important to note that inventories only ever listed the items the appraisers bothered to list. In Thomas Pattinson\u2019s case, there is no mention of livestock or farming gear, or crops \u2013 for some reason, it\u2019s only household items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inventory has 17 lines, ranging in value from \u2018china: 2s 6d,\u2019 to \u2018wearing apparel: \u00a32\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bank of England\u2019s inflation calculator only works in whole pounds, so let\u2019s start with items that are easy to calculate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dining table: 10s<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round oak table: 10s.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Added together, that\u2019s two tables for 20s. And there were 20s in \u00a31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, that\u2019s two tables for what the Bank of England\u2019s inflation calculator says would be \u00a3103 today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good luck getting a dining table and a round oak table for \u00a3103!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did manage to find a (very small!) dining table for \u00a3189 online. But only because it was reduced in a sale from \u00a3279. And while it claimed to be a four-seater, you\u2019d struggle to have even four breakfast cereal bowls and coffee cups on it at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect they had something bigger in the farmhouse! And the inventory does include \u2018half dozen chairs\u2019 (at 12 shillings)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheapest oak side table on the same site was \u00a3169 (from \u00a3249).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was also a \u2018round table\u2019 valued at 2s 6d. So you could have bought eight of those for \u00a31. So eight round tables for \u00a3103 today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doesn\u2019t work, does it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clothing (worth today)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Pattinson\u2019s \u2018wearing apparel\u2019 came to \u00a32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, by the Bank of England\u2019s inflation calculator, his entire wardrobe was worth today the equivalent of \u00a3206.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, as the site says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018a family\u2019s food and clothes today are very different to those of a typical family a hundred years ago\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But even if he only had two work shirts, two pairs of work trouser, one work coat, one pair of work boots, and a \u2018Sunday best\u2019 suit and shoes\u2026 well, do the maths!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even shopping conservatively today, I\u2019d say the \u00a313 of goods in the inventory of Thomas Pattinson would be worth today more like \u00a38,500 than the Bank of England\u2019s \u00a31,340.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Average income<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To understand what \u00a3x is worth today, it helps to know what people were earning \u2018in those days\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have a note from \u2018British incomes circa 1800<\/a>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My note says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018average annual household incomes varied between from around \u00a330 among labourers and the poor to \u00a38,000 among the peerage. Less than one percent of households had incomes of \u00a31,000 or more while a little more than 6 percent of households had average annual incomes of \u00a3200 or more.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It doesn\u2019t look like incomes had changed greatly by 1833.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that would mean Thomas Pattinson\u2019s \u00a313 of \u2018goods and chattels\u2019 would have cost between a third and half a year\u2019s wages for a labourer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Minimum Wage (35-hour week, adults) in 2025 is worth \u00a322,222. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divide that by a third and it comes to \u00a37,407 (and 33p recurring!). By two, and it\u2019s \u00a311,111.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, Thomas Pattinson\u2019s goods, worked out this way, were somewhere between \u00a37,4k and \u00a311.1k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which makes my \u00a38,500 calculation above seem reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the inventory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second page covers cash in the house (\u00a35), more household furniture (\u00a312 9s 6d), rent due from Easton estate (\u00a37 15s) and rent due from Westfield estate (\u00a315 10s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total: \u00a340 14s 6s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or \u00a34,125.30, on the Bank of England\u2019s inflation calculator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s impossible to work that out (how much land was he renting out?) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u00a35 cash is calculated as \u00a3515.66 today. But if you could buy ten dining tables for a fiver\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look on Thomas\u2019 \u00a35 cash as being one sixth of a labourer\u2019s wages, and it\u2019s more like \u00a33,700 in today\u2019s values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could buy ten small dining tables for that. Should you wish to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The point to all this is not to take simple calculations of \u2018what is \u00a3x worth today?\u2019 too literally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have the inventory of an ancestor, or any other record relating to money, and what to know (effectively) \u2018how well off were they?\u2019 then think wider than a simple calculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find out what the average wage was at that time. Think what it is today. Think what prices are today for clothing and furniture. Do the maths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you\u2019ll have a much fairer idea of what they were worth today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the case of an inventory, that still only tells you a small part of the picture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnote<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after writing the above, I spotted a reference to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Agreement between William Rawlinson and Reginald Gregg for rebuilding of Graythwaite Hall for \u00a327\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This was in 1719.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bank of England puts the value as \u00a35,273 today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MeasuringWorth ranges it from \u00a35,004 to \u00a3886,800.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With \u2018labour cost\u2019 between the two, at \u00a375,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depends how big a rebuild it was, I guess!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“What is \u00a3x worth today?” It\u2019s something all family historians ask at some point. Usually when they have found the will of an ancestor. It\u2019s only natural to wonder how comfortably off (or not) they were. Well, the go-to source to calculate a comparison is the Bank of England\u2019s Inflation Calculator. Which you can find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[459,460,461],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-history","category-social-history","tag-bank-of-england","tag-prices","tag-values"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is \u00a3x worth today? - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is \u00a3x worth today? Before using comparison sites, here are some key things to bear in mind. 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