elaby | Money, money, money

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Money, money, money

Victorian currency (shillings, crowns, guineas, etc) appeals to me immensely. I'm not sure why; the decimal system seems much easier to remember. There's just something about the pre-decimalization terms that sound lyrical to me. Anyway, because I'm a geek and the idea fascinates me that in the 1860's you could buy an umbrella for twice what a milk-woman made in a week, I wanted to figure out how much Watson's pension is at the beginning of A Study in Scarlet.

I've done some math here; beware.

Watson's pension in 1881 is 11s 6d* a day, which comes out to 3£ 17s weekly. In around 1860, his weekly income would buy a frock coat, or a water-closet (without the installation fees, I can only assume). The disparity between these in comparison to today boggles me.

So, if I did the math right, that means Watson makes 209£ 14s 8d a year. Not bad, but not great; that's within the second lowest middle-class bracket (the middle bracket, in fact - between "under £100" and "£300-1,000") in the 1861 census, exactly 20 years earlier. There were tons of middle class people making less than 100£ a year, but all working class people were classified as making less than 100£ a year as well. This would mean that Watson was making, every year, a bit more than twice as much as a junior clerk second class in the Post Office would make, and if I recall correctly, about as much as a Scotland Yard detective could be expected to make. Not bad, for a pension. And since he was a doctor, it would put him solidly in the middle class, even though you could be a skilled worker (or a policeman) and be making more than that while still be considered working class. Not that we ever doubted Watson was middle-class.

*For those on my f'list not familiar with the abbreviations, s=shilling and d=pence. I was completely flummoxed by this in the Moomintroll books when I was little, no less by the 8/- meaning eight shillings and no pence. I thought they'd made up the currency *laughs*

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I love you for doing that math. I knew it was a pretty decent pension compared to salaries of different occupations, but not how good.

So then, whenever it was that he became only half-pensioning, that would have been a problem financially. Probably hence the medical practice in Paddington when he married? (or before that...did Holmes split his fees with him or what?)

He would have still been able to make it, I think, on around Â£100 a year, but he would definitely be living less comfortably than he was used to. I definitely think the medical practice was an effort to make sure he had enough money to justify getting married (apparently men were expected to wait until they had a decent enough salary to marry... and I KNOW I saw a figure in one of my books but I can't find it! Â£100 was enough for a clerk to get married, but that would assume rising in the ranks and being pretty young, I'd think.)

I imagine he and Holmes split their fees before Watson's marriage. In whichever story Holmes deduces that Watson's been playing billiards by the chalk on his hand, he says that he keeps Watson's checkbook in his desk and Watson hasn't asked for the key... so I can only assume Holmes controlled their money. Later on, though, post-Hiatus, Watson says he spends half his pension on the races, and if he's not in practice, Holmes must be paying for most of their needs. But then again it seems to indicate that Holmes is pretty rich later on.

*LOVES this stuff!*

Well the cheque-book and chalk bit was post-Hiatus, in DANC. But still that brings up the interesting ploy bunny of when did Holmes decide to split fees with him? :)

Oh, it was? Whoops! Granada confuses me like that XD

That would be fun to explore!

Yay for poking into Canonical corners! Thank you so much for working out Watson's income. There's a fair bit of speculation in the Klinger annotated about how much the lodgings at Baker Street must have cost (I think £4 a week for room and board, split between the two of them, was the posited figure), but somehow Mr. Klinger never really dug into where that put Watson on the income spectrum. Now you've got me wanting to compare...

*tries to remember all the monetary references in the whole Canon all at once and falls on face*

One bit on money in the stories that always sticks with me is the discussion in IDEN of Miss Mary Sutherland's income. She says that she had £2500 willed to her and that it brings in 4.5% interest, which works out to £112.5 per annum, plus approximately 1/- per day for typing (another £18 a year). Holmes mentions that a single woman can live very comfortably on £60 a year, and Miss Sutherland replies that she "could do with much less than that." If a single woman of the middle class could make do on £50 a year, Watson is doing fairly well for himself on four times that sum, although presumably he has a few expenses that a young lady wouldn't (most notably alcohol and tobacco). Not so hot compared to Neville St.-Clair, though, who makes £700 a year by begging!

The other numbers that this post brought to the front of my mind were some of the sums that Holmes gets as commissions and rewards. The King of Bohemia throws a thousand pounds on the table, and the reward for the Blue Carbuncle is the same (though whether that's ever claimed and, if so, by whom is unclear), there's another £1000 reward in BERY, and then of course there's the staggering £6000 check from the Duke in PRIO. I mean, I knew that wasn't pocket change, but when compared to Watson's pension it's almost unbelievable-- that's 30 times W's annual income! Even the £500 from Von Bork in LAST is nothing to sneeze at. Our Mr. Holmes comes quite a long way from the man who needs someone to share the rent in STUD in the course of his career, no?

I could clearly go on like this all night, but I won't subject you to that :) But, since you've been looking into it, I don't suppose you have any idea what Mary's six pearls would have been worth (I do always seem to end up back on Mary these days)? She was probably making somewhere between £60 and £90 a year as a governess, if COPP is anything to go by, so hardly an heiress that way, but those pearls are beginning to worry me. The Canon is awfully contradictory on gems. Sir George sells the peerless emeralds in BERY for £200 apiece, and Holmes buys them back at £1000 each, but the equally matchless Blue Carbuncle is worth £20,000...

Definitely have to stop now before I get into Mr. Hatherley's £27 10d takings in two years, followed by 50 guineas for a night's work (almost). And the quarter-million pound robbery in GLOR. And Mycroft's £450 a year for being the British government...

*HUGS* OMG, you rule times a million! Please, go on if you want to! XD

Holmes mentions that a single woman can live very comfortably on Â£60 a year, and Miss Sutherland replies that she "could do with much less than that."

Oh yeah! I forgot about that. I wonder if it's meant to make highlight her modesty and sensibleness or something.

and then of course there's the staggering Â£6000 check from the Duke in PRIO.

Holy moly! Â£5000 a year "and over" is the highest tier in the 1861 census table I was using in this post. The discrepancy between how much different things cost boggles me - Â£8000 bought you a double box at Her Majesty's Opera House.

I don't suppose you have any idea what Mary's six pearls would have been worth

I have no idea, unfortunately. Nothing I've read has mentioned how much jewelry was worth.

Thank you for commenting with all this! I'm so delighted XD

Lol! *Hugs back* Really, you shouldn't encourage me. Give me an inch and I'll babble all over you for a mile, dahling :)

I wonder if it's meant to highlight her modesty and sensibleness or something

I wouldn't be surprised. It baffles me that Watson isn't forced to spend half his chronicling time detailing most all of London (male and female)hitting on the pair of eligible usually-bachelors up at 221B. Perhaps because it's a theme on which he prefers not to dwell :) Does put a new spin on Miss Sutherland's rather ostentatious loyalty and devotion, though, dunnit?

the discrepancy between how much different things cost boggles me

That opera price is insane! Maybe it's a little like the distinction between cost of living today in a third vs. first world nation, only all crammed into London? Victorian attitudes towards poverty make me cringe frequently (the whole point of the workhouses, which were supposed to be charitable institutions (!), was to make unemployment so unbelievably hellish that everybody would, theoretically, give up their lives of sin and idleness and go become moral and hardworking citizens). I wonder sometimes how much income distribution has actually changed from then to now... and then I remember that understanding the answer to that question would require knowing something about economics, and decide that my time would be better spent learning about something more sensible. Like poetry XD

It baffles me that Watson isn't forced to spend half his chronicling time detailing most all of London (male and female)hitting on the pair of eligible usually-bachelors up at 221B.

*cracks up* And there's remarkably little of that, even! It really is surprising. I feel like sometimes Watson (or ACD, whichever you prefer) writes things in a certain way sometimes to be like "Oh yeah, women! I forgot! I notice women! See how I notice women?"

the whole point of the workhouses, which were supposed to be charitable institutions (!), was to make unemployment so unbelievably hellish that everybody would, theoretically, give up their lives of sin and idleness and go become moral and hardworking citizens

Yes! That! Seriously, it is boggling! The whole concept of the "deserving poor," too. You had to be the RIGHT kind of poor person to get any help.

Like poetry XD

My entire experience in school was like that XD Why yes, I am getting a degree studying stuff people wrote hundreds of years ago! Because... I loves it. That's all, really ^^;;

Okay, so, I cracked up about "Oh yeah, women! I forgot! I notice women! See how I notice women?". And then I thought, "there's a drabble in there somewhere." Only it turns out I was wrong, 'cause it was actually a ficlet. A hastily-written and very silly ficlet. For which I intend to blame you :)

“Watson, I would of course never presume to question your writing…”

“Really, Holmes, I understand that the precise nature of our partnership requires us to cultivate the art of telling falsehoods, but I would appreciate it if you would choose another victim upon whom to practice. Or, at the very least, you might spare me such egregious lies as that.”

“There, you see! If only you saved that razor wit for your stories instead of using it up excoriating me, I should have nothing whatever to complain of where your writing is concerned.”

“And yet, clearly you do have something to complain about in my new manuscript. I know very well that no power on earth will stop you voicing your dissent, so, by all means, have at it. I invite your comments. I implore your criticism. Do your worst, my dear Holmes—I beseech you.”

“Oh, bravo, Watson, bravo. Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But really, old chap, it’s for the best if I mention this particular quibble before you send it off to that Doyle blackguard who is so eager to claim the credit that ought to be yours.”

“Like you, I do my work for its own sake. In any case, I’m sure you plan to come to your point eventually.”

“Quite. The long and the short of it is, Watson, that you spend three paragraphs of your latest tale enumerating the personal characteristics of Mr. Windibank of the “wonderfully sharp and penetrating grey eyes,” and yet your description of Miss Sutherland does not stretch beyond “preposterous hat and vacuous face.””

“Oh, my dear Holmes, how awfully thoughtless of me. I assure you, my love, next to your eyes his are as dull as dishwater. Positively leaden, truly.”

“Thank you, Watson, but that was not what I was getting at. Don’t you think it would bode better for our chances of avoiding incarceration if you perhaps focused a bit more on describing the lady in the case?”

“Oh. Erm...yes. Except, well, I’m afraid I don’t remember a cursed thing about her.”

“Straw hat, slate-coloured, with a broad brim and an ostrich plume of brick-red hue; black jacket, with beading and trimmed at the edges with little ornaments of jet; dress very dark brown, two seasons out of fashion, with purple plush trim at the neck and the wrist, the latter preserving the mark of her typewriter; gloves that might once have been called dove-coloured, but which had faded to plain grey with many washings and with a worn patch on the right forefinger; black boots, one with a decorated toe-cap and one without, though each possessing twelve buttons; small circular gold earrings; mousy brown hair, round face, pink cheeks, the first hints of a double chin, and the marks from a pair of pince-nez on either side of a rather spotty nose.”

“Show-off.”

“Only for you, Watson. In the published version it ought, no doubt, to be your dialogue rather than mine—it’s your reputation we’re trying to uphold, after all. And then my character can offer one of those backhanded complements you so enjoy writing for me: ‘You have hit upon the method, though you missed everything of significance,’ or something along those lines. In fact, I give you free reign to tamper with my words all you like. Put anything in my mouth that suits you.”

“That was the least subtle bit of innuendo I’ve ever heard.”

“Wasn’t it?”

“You needn’t look so smug about it.”

“And you needn’t look so eager.”

“Holmes?”

“Yes, Watson?”

“That editing can wait for tomorrow, don’t you think?”

“Oh, indubitably, my dear Watson. Indubitably.”

BWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! XD I feel SO special to have inspired that XD

That was so wonderful. It sounded a lot like the BBC radio plays in the bantering "your character" and "my character" thing. I love it! Especially this:

âœOh, my dear Holmes, how awfully thoughtless of me. I assure you, my love, next to your eyes his are as dull as dishwater. Positively leaden, truly.â

âœThank you, Watson, but that was not what I was getting at. Donâ™t you think it would bode better for our chances of avoiding incarceration if you perhaps focused a bit more on describing the lady in the case?â

âœOh. Erm...yes. Except, well, Iâ™m afraid I donâ™t remember a cursed thing about her.â

*cracks up* And Holmes with his archaic "iThou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit." (You KNOW Holmes would use "thou" to Watson). *does a dance of joy*

Thank you! And thanks for the inspiration. It was a thoroughly fun way to spend an hour or two.

The "thou" bit is actually from Shakespeare. Much Ado again. In honor of yesterday having been the Bard's birthday, and all.

Oh, yay! That makes it even better XD

Why do my italics tags keep screwing up? O_o Weird!

well done on doing the maths on this. Pre-decimal currency makes my brain hurt. :-)

Woot! Thanks for the confirmation ^_^ It sounds so pretty, but it's so brain-hurty!

I applaud your maths! Pre-decimal makes me scream and run away. I suppose it is more attractive sounding that mere pounds and pence, but it makes my brain numb just thinking about it.

I'm very impressed with you XD

What you said about the middle classes is interesting. Watson would be considered middle class mostly because of his profession. This is when you get into the argument about blue collar and white collar jobs, which have less to do with how much you earn and more to do with how much education you've received to get that job.

I'm gonna stop now before I start to display my full socialist colours ;)

But that's how the class system works in the UK. I was trying to explain to dd the other night that whatever she thought she was, she was upper middle class, in the UK you are what class your father is, (or in her case, mine) like it or not. None of this arriviste nonsense about riches recently acquired pushing you up the class system. Or money lost dropping you down to the bottom. Hence the existence of the Royal Society for the Relief of Indigent Gentlewomen of Scotland - I kid you not.

Which means that we remain rather higher up the class system than our income would suggest. We are the genteel poor, and proud of it! And, in typically British fashon, entirely socialist also.

Of course class is a contentious issue for many and no one can really agree on what makes you one class or another and many would argue that it is possible to climb the social ladder.

I come from a family of blue collar workers, typically working class with the relatively low wages that go with it.

I have been told by many that my university education actually excludes me from the working class and puts me firmly into the middle classes.

Is that true? Or am I still working class because of my family? A lot of people would laugh at me, with my BA in English, claiming to be working class. Yet I've had the privilege of a good education (for which I have had to work bloody hard for) but not a very privileged upbringing.

Ah, the archaic class system of Britain. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at it.

I think you're still working class but your children would be more likely to be middle class. Or at least, that's how I always thought it worked. Possibly the working class might sneer at you with your fancy ways and degree, the middle class might accept you as an honorary member as your children find themselves enjoying a more middle class lifestyle than you did. It seems to be much simpler in America where it's all about the money, and nobody cares who your father was, you make your own destiny. Personally I tend towards the British view that you are a product of your upbringing, and there is nothing you can do to change it.

And then there the whole aristocracy versus meritocracy. Just because you're smart and work hard and succeed doesn't make you posh, and goodness knows there are some monumentally stupid people in the upper classes.

And then there the whole aristocracy versus meritocracy

Not forgetting that the grammar school system proved that we can't even do meritocracy without bringing our elitist class concerns into it.

I could go further with this but I will spare elaby's comments page ;)

Well quite!

And sorry elaby, we've been comment spamming like mad.

It's no problem :) It's all very interesting!

I don't mind conversation in my comments! You guys can go as far as you want :) Or stop whenever you want.

Thank you! ^___^

This is when you get into the argument about blue collar and white collar jobs, which have less to do with how much you earn and more to do with how much education you've received to get that job.

Yeah, this is really interesting. Growing up in the U.S. you get inundated when you're little with "You can do whatever you want no matter who you are! You can be president!" It almost became a cliche. And then you grow up and come up against, you know, obstacles O_o

Yeah, here in the UK we get hypnotised by all the talk about how there is no longer a class divide in this country. Then you go into the real world and, like you say, face a load of obstacles that certain people in society never have to face.

Things are better now, without doubt, but we still have a long way to go before we rid ourselves of the class system.

I loved doing the sums in old money, I felt cheated when we got new maths books with ridiculous things called "new pence" to add up and everything was done in tens. Far too simple for sums.

And a big old penny made you feel properly rich when you went to spend it on sweeties on a Saturday. And who could not love a sixpence.

We've got these gold-plated dollar coins that feel like pirate treasure. Some have Sacagawea on them :)

Aaaarrrr!

Only now they have the presidents. All of them. Because what the world needed most was Millard Filmore on a dollar coin.

XD I luckily don't have any of those!

hi, can i just say something? your journal layout? i kind of love it. pretty Anshii is pretty.

Thank you! Yay ^_^

caitirin made it for me. I <3 Anthy like whoa.

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