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One of the challenges to the pupils of Kings School in the That'll Teachem series was tackling the old weights, measurements and money of the United Kingdom.
The pupils were each given half a crown pocket money per week and were fined for various things such as unpolished shoes at the rate of one penny.
The old money system can be explained as follows.
Pounds were divided into shillings and pence. A price would be written as
£1 5s 6d or £1/5/6d or
Smaller amounts could be either 2/6d or 2s 6d
Fractions of a penny would be written for example as 2/6½d
People would know automatically the difference between 1/2d and ½d by the spacing and size of the figures.
There were 20 Shillings in one Pound and 12 Pennies in a Shilling.
A ten-shilling note was used instead of a coin. (10/- or 10s 0d.)
This was the equivalent of today's 50p coin.
Coinage in circulation was
| Farthing | ¼d | 960 to a Pound 4 to a Penny |
The Farthing was phased out in the late 50's |
| Half Penny | ½d | 480 to a Pound 2 to a Penny |
Normally called a HA'PENNY (heypnee) |
| One Penny | 1d | 240 to a Pound 12 to a Shilling |
Penny (plural when referring to coins pennies or pence when stating value) The symbol d comes from the initial of DENARIUS |
| Three Pence | 3d | 80 to a Pound 4 to a Shilling |
Threepence (Normally pronounced thripuns or thrup'ence) |
| Sixpence | 6d | 40 to a Pound 2 to a Shilling |
Often called a tanner |
| One Shilling | 1s or 1/- | 20 to a Pound | Often called a Bob (This where the scouts phrase 'Bob a Job' came from. |
| Two Shillings | 2s or 2/- | 10 to a Pound | Often referred to as a Two Bob Bit |
| Two and Six | 2s 0d or 2/6 | 8 to a Pound | A Half a Crown |
2d was pronounced as Tup'ence
A Crown was a quarter of a Pound but was only minted for official occasions
after the replacement of the Sovereign (£1) with the Pound Note.
One other common term was a Guinea which was worth One pound one shilling.
The two shilling piece is the same size as the current 10p
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