PoUnDs , ShIlLiNgS AnD PeNcE MIND-BENDING MONEY
PoUnDs , ShIlLiNgS AnD PeNcE MIND-BENDING MONEY
Once upon a time , not that long ago , there were 240 British pence in a pound .
What ?! Ed
Honestly , it ’ s true ! Just ask someone over 60 years of age and they might remember buying a chewy drumstick lolly with a big brown penny . But they could have used two ha ’ penny coins or four farthings instead .
Ha ’ penny … Farthing ?! What are these things of which you speak ?
Before Decimal Day – Monday 15 February 1971 – money in the UK was … erm … complex . Understanding money took a lot more maths than it does now . People had to come up with handy tricks to make things easier .
ShoW me the monEy !
We are used to a world with 100 pence in a pound , just like there are 100 cents in a euro or a US dollar . These are decimal currencies , based on multiples of ten . It makes the maths relatively easy when changing from pennies to pounds , you just divide by 100 and change the sign – so 275p is £ 2.75 !
In the days of pre-decimalisation , there were pounds , shillings and pence . The main unit was a pound ( written as £ or L ), which was broken down into 20 shillings ( s ), with each shilling being worth 12 pence ( d ). That ’ s where the 240 pence in a pound comes from : 20 ( shillings ) x 12 ( pence ) = 240 .
But it didn ’ t stop there . A penny was broken down into two ha ’ pennies ( half-pennies , written as ½d ) or four farthings ( ¼d ). And there were more coins and terms for different amounts too ! There were four pennies to a groat and six pennies were either a sixpence or a tanner .
OLD MONEY !
A Breakdown of the UK ’ s Pre-Decimalisation Currency System
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