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Notes on currencies

The origins of the pound sterling go back to the Anglo-Saxon period and to the introduction of the silvery penny by King Offa of Mercia (757-796). The “pound” derived from the fact that 240 of these pennies weighed one pound (1lb).

Between these two was the shilling – made up of 12 pennies. In turn, 20 shillings were pound.

The new currency gradually spread throughout neighbouring kingdoms and became the standard currency of what would later come to be England. It was not abandoned until the 1971 when a new decimal currency replaced it. 

Coins available
During the 19th century and until decimalisation in the early 1970s, the following coins were in common circulation. Not all were available throughout the entire period.
  • Farthing (one-quarter of a penny)
  • Ha’penny (half a penny)
  • Penny
  • Tuppence (two pennies)
  • Thruppence (three pennies)
  • Sixpenny bit (six pennies)
  • Shilling
  • Florin (two shillings)
  • Half crown (two shillings and six pence)
  • Crown (five shillings)
A full list of British bank notes and coins on the Wikipedia website lists all these and many more obscure coins.

Representing monetary amounts in print
Pre-1970s monetary amounts are typically written as a combination of pounds, shillings and pence (and fractions of pence).

There are a number of ways of indicating the different parts of the currency.

Most commonly, the pound is represented by a £ symbol. But in some older documents it may also appear as an l.
  • This means three pounds may appear as £3 or 3l.
Shillings are represented either by a letter s (from the Latin solidus) or by an oblique stroke /, with a hyphen to follow where there are no pence included.
  • This means three shillings may appear as 3s or 3/-.
Pennies are invariably followed by a letter d (from the Latin denari).
  • This means three pence will appear as 3d.
Other values and pronunciations
If you think it’s hard enough to work in base 12 with 240d to the £, then here comes the even more complicated bit.

In addition to the pound, the shilling and the penny, you may also come across the following terms:
  • Guinea – Bewilderingly, worth 21s. Although the coin itself was withdrawn in 1816, values commonly continued to appear in guineas for many years after that date.
  • Crown –  A 5s coin in circulation from rom 1526–1965.
  • Sovereign – Although the pound was most commonly encountered as a bank note, from 1817 to 1937 it was also available as a coin, known as a sovereign.
  • Florin – A 2s coin in circulation from 1848 to 1970, and thereafter in circulation until 1994 at a value of 10p in decimal currency.
  • Groat  – a 4d coin in circulation 1836–1862.
And then there are the slang names. A 6d coin was a tanner, a shilling was a bob, a florin two bob. For many years, a 5 shilling “crown” was known as a dollar – reflecting the exchange rate of four US dollars to the pound of the 1940s.