Cornock family history research: change old money into new

It’s hard to understand the value of money back in the past. For example, when writing home during the 1800s from Australia to his wife in Bristol, UK, my ancestor Peter Cornock describes his purchase of a ring:

At Auction, I got incredibly low figures, I invested 20/- in a gold ring with a crest in a bloodstone, exactly the same color as my initials in pencil case (of course it is always its value) The Crest is a Griffin with a bird in Collar I intend to seal one of my letters with it.

So, did he get a bargain?

British money has changed since Victorian times. At present, the British pound contains 100 pence. Before decimal currency was introduced in 1971, the pound Sterling was divided into twenty shillings (written as 20s. or 20/-) and each shilling equalled twelve pennies or pence (written as 12d. rather than the modern 12p).

So a figure such as two shillings and sixpence could be written as 2/6 or 2s.6d, or even as £-.2.6. For more information on our weird British currency, this web page is very helpful.

In those days, Australian money was the same as British Sterling, so Peter Cornock would have spent £1 on his ring. Perhaps he thought “20 shillings” sounded less of an outlay! He certainly tries to justify the purchase by suggesting the ring will be useful for sealing letters as well as ornamental.

But what value would that sum have meant to his wife, Hannah? She was clearly struggling financially. In a previous letter, Peter asks, How on earth do you manage to pay tax, & especially rent? A good-sized house in Bristol was rented out for £28 a year in 1829, so Peter’s ring could have paid his family’s rent for about two weeks.

Poor old Hannah Cornock must have been grinding her teeth with fury as she read that her feckless husband had borrowed £5 to buy a new suit as well, while she scrimped and saved to pay the bills at home!