Money, money, money

[elaby]

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*

Comments

[elaby.livejournal.com]

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*

[janeturenne.livejournal.com]

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.

[elaby.livejournal.com]

Oh, yay! That makes it even better XD

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