Cash

[trish251]

Ah - through your persistance I am now happy      (Need those sunnies - it is about 37C in my world today & I think that is close to 100 in the old language).

I am finding it interesting that my ancestors with money all turn out to be in Scotland. There must be much truth in the rumour that a Scotsman and his money are rarely parted.  The one with the 17 000 left the money to his children but I have another who had 45 000  at about the same time and most of that went to the church. They must have loved him, not so sure what the relatives thought - especially the one who was given 25 pounds to look after the estate (and 1000 pounds to donate to the church charity of his choice).

Many thanks

Trish

[mirl]

Hi Trish,

Pretty close 37.8C = 100F.

We only have about half that in Melbourne at present.

Cheers, Colin

[RJ_Paton]

On that same site there are other means of calculating the comparitive values

eg your 17,000 in 1895 could be ....
£1,271,560.09    using the retail price index
£1,578,743.36   using the GDP deflator
£7,009,897.96   using average earnings
£8,554,858.94   using per capita GDP
£13,135,675.51   using the GDP

There must be much truth in the rumour that a Scotsman and his money are rarely parted

a myth perpetuated by the english 

especially the one who was given 25 pounds to look after the estate (and 1000 pounds to donate to the church charity of his choice).

ouch

from sunny scotland where the temperature has soared to 0 Celsius

[Berlin-Bob]

My (scottish) wife says:
the Scots have deep pockets and short arms, that's why it is so difficult to get the money out !

[JAP]

Folks,

I might be getting philosophical here but ...

Sure, it's fine to compare purchasing power.

But what about comparing what people normally would have purchased (or would have expected to be able to or to hope to purchase) regardless of whatever purchasing power they might have had?

So, in Mars Bars currency, if one could purchase (say) only one (equivalent) Mars Bar is that meaningful when nobody in the area was purchasing any (equivalent) Mars Bars - if I make myself clear!!

In this age of materialism and so many possessions, it is difficult to make any equation with ancestors who, however happy they might have been and however well-off they might have felt vis-a-vis their neighbours, had barely any material possessions.

Just read a few wills or inventories ...

Perhaps equating, in this way, the equivalent monetary value of the possessions of our ancestors, might be completely misleading ...

JAP 

[trish251]

Hi Judy

You are probably correct, but I was simply trying to assess if the estates of my folks would have been considered of reasonable value & looking at the inventory in their wills, plus the fact that they owned property, I think the Scottish families were somewhat wealthier than the English ones who left amounts of five pounds to minimal numbers of relatives.

Balanced with census details  of where they lived and who they lived with plus occupations, it is probably going to be as good as I get - purely an idea of their wealth and lifestyles.

Trish

[LouiseB31]

I am reminded of the second world war (or was it the first?) when rampant inflation occurred in Germany. People were having to spend thousands of marks to buy a loaf of bread. During this period the value of their money would have fallen considerably. Presumably between 1875 and 1895 there was some serious inflation too.

[JAP]

Hi Trish,

You won't get an argument from me.  I think I was saying the same thing.

What I was trying to say was that, given changing circumstances, people who might have seemed to have left very small estates by our own (or Mars Bar) standards were probably quite (or indeed very or even exceedingly) well off in the communities of their day (despite the Mars Bar equivalence of their estates in our terms).

Just a note: when comparing Scots and English wills, it is also necessary to take into account that Scots Wills/Inventories might well have been described in Scots currency (which was of a lower value that Sterling).

Regards,

JAP