Eighteen Hundreds? I just watched Ebenezer Splooge.
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DrakeStraw — 1 year ago(December 25, 2024 01:03 AM)
A half crown was worth a lot more than $22. Cratchit was making about a crown each week. He needed more than that to keep Tiny Tim in crutches.
Bob Cratchit's salary is £15 per year, significantly lower than the average clerk's salary. • The average clerk's salary in the 1840s was around £30-£40 per year
https://gbtimes.com/how-much-money-did-bob-cratchit-make/
There's something wrong with the article. How can Tiny Tim be earning £13/yr? That's almost as much as Bob makes. Was Tim a beggar?
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ZolotoyRetriever — 1 year ago(December 25, 2024 01:35 AM)
I'm going by an online inflation calculator (see link below), which gives me the inflation-adjusted value of one British pound of 1843 in 2025 terms (since we're only days away from 2025, I used that instead of 2024). I get this:
£1 in 1843 is worth £162.37 today.
Since a Half-crown is 2 shillings 6 pence, that equals 1/8 of a pound, so 1/8 of £162.37 is £20.3.
*I kind of goofed up in my previous post, where I wrote "$22.00 give or take in today’s dollars." I meant to write it in pounds, not dollars. I also meant to write 20, not 22.
Mea culpa
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In any case, converting £20.3 to dollars using today's currency exchange rates, one British pound is equal to 1.25 U.S. Dollars, so that Half-crown would be worth about $25.38 today, give or take.
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DrakeStraw — 1 year ago(December 25, 2024 01:57 AM)
I no longer trust the link I cited. Another source says Cratchit made 15 shillings a week. That seems to be what I remember from reading the book. That's about £40/yr. so maybe Cratchit wasn't underpaid at all and Tiny Tim's £13/yr. from begging is more plausible.
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ZolotoyRetriever — 1 year ago(December 25, 2024 02:13 AM)
According to Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," Bob Cratchit was paid 15 shillings per week. 15 X 52 weeks in a year = 780 shillings per year. There are (or were) 20 shillings per Pound, so 780 divided by 20 = 39 Pounds/year.
Using that inflation calculator I mentioned above, 39 Pounds in 1843 is worth £6,332.36 today, adjusted for inflation. Converting to U.S. Dollars is 6,332.36 X 1.25 = $7,915.45 a year.
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DrakeStraw — 1 year ago(December 25, 2024 03:47 AM)
…$7,915.45 a year.
That figure is low considering what you could buy for a shilling in 1843: two loaves of bread or a pint at a pub. That's like a nickel beer deal today.
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