Earning a living in Victorian times

When you visit Tower Bridge’s East Walkway, you will see a selection of Victorian coins. Shillings and pennies are placed together with bills and invoices from the 1890s.

These coins are linked to John Heaney and his two sons. They were a Scottish family of riveters that settled in London and helped to build the steel structure of Tower Bridge.

Being riveters, the Heaneys were in the top bracket of earners at the Bridge.

A team of riveters earned an average of £137.78 per week in wages. This equates to about £610 per week each in today’s money, which is a good wage, even by modern standards.

In comparison, other workers earned between 4 and 6 pennies a day, so a weekly pay of about 3-6 shillings (£15-30 per week in today’s money).

To put all of this into context, consider two things. Firstly, the unique triple-currency system at the time, which lasted until far the 20th century. And secondly, how these wages related to the price of goods and services.

The main components of the currency were:

• Pounds (£)
• Shillings (s)
• Pence (d)

Many coins made up the three main components:

Tiny coins

• Farthing — the tiniest amount (¼ of a penny!)
• Halfpenny (ha’penny) — half a penny
• Penny — 1 penny

Everyday coins

• Threepenny bit — worth 3 pennies
• Sixpence — worth 6 pennies (two threepenny bits)

Bigger coins

• Shilling — worth 12 pennies
• Florin — worth 2 shillings
• Half-crown — worth 2 shillings and 6 pence
• Crown — worth 5 shillings

How all the pre-decimal coins added up

People had to remember how much each coin was worth:

• Two farthings = 1 halfpenny
• Two halfpennies = 1 penny
• Three pennies = a threepenny bit AND twelve pennies in a shilling
• Two threepenny bits = a sixpence
• Two sixpences = a shilling
• Two shillings = a florin
• Five shillings = a crown AND two shillings in a Florin
• Two crowns in a 10 shilling note
• Two ten shilling notes, or 20 shilling coins made £1

Confused? There's a great diagram of how Pounds, Shillings and Pence worked at The Royal Mint Museum.

The United Kingdom didn’t switch completely to its current decimal system, known as ‘Decimal day’, until 15 February 1971.

A great example to explain costs is in groceries. This also provides an idea of the comparative value of different goods, such as what was considered essential or luxury in Victorian times, and how this has changed.

In the 1890s, two pots of marmalade cost one shilling – about £5 in modern money. As 1s was 12d, a Tower Bridge worker would therefore have had to work roughly a day, if not more, for one jar of marmalade. So, a marmalade was quite a luxury product those days.

Working hard for expensive "luxuries"

• Half a day or more for one jar of marmalade (half a shilling)
• Six days work for two lb (pounds) of beef (three shillings)
• Less than half a days work for a loaf of bread (between 2 and 3 pence)
• One-months salary for a ‘Best feather pillow’ (14 shillings and 6 pence), showing that many items were clearly out of the question for a regular working class family.

How do we know how much things cost?

We know the cost of lots of everyday items due to the survival of old hand-written shopping receipts.

Once Tower Bridge was complete, the construction teams left and the operation staff took over. Employed by the City of London, these workers were well paid, considerably more than in other sectors.

Working at the Bridge soon became a desirable job, with the lowest paid worker, the Post & Rail man, earning 24d 6d per week in 1894.