Author Topic: Value of £1 in 1955  (Read 1104 times)

Online ShaunJ

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #9 on: Monday 01 June 20 11:06 BST (UK) »
I like to to think in terms of beer purchasing power, which usually ends up somewhere between RPI and house prices.

A pint of beer in 1954 cost 9d, so with £2400 you could buy 64,000 pints if beer. To buy that quantity today you would need around £224,000. 

By contrast, a litre of petrol in 1954 would have cost around a shilling so £2400 would have bought 48,000 litres. At today's prices: £48,000. I hadn't realised that petrol was so much cheaper now in real terms.

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Online louisa maud

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #10 on: Monday 01 June 20 11:18 BST (UK) »
My husband equated it to the cost of a bar of chocolate, what does that say,  yes,he is a chocoholic

I really must find out more about this man, he apparently fought in the Spanish Civil War,  hence him not appearing in tbe 1939 listings  or anywhere else

Louisa maud
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Offline Crumblie

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #11 on: Monday 01 June 20 11:20 BST (UK) »
In fact I really cannot believe that this man  left this amount of money, I wonder where he got it from to be honest, only found his marriage  and death, can't out his details online till I have cleared it with his family distantly related to me , his wife appears to have left nothing

Louisa Maud

In 1899 my gg grandfather left almost £3500 in his will and I have not got a clue where it came from. He was a drayman so he certainly did not earn it, I know he received a sixth share of his uncle's estate but unfortunately the will does not say what it amounted to, the total estate was only around that figure. I am trying to locate other wills he may have benefitted from but lockdown has put a stop to that at the moment.

Offline MaxD

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #12 on: Monday 01 June 20 11:46 BST (UK) »
A down to earth way is to link the sum with average wages as Guyana has done.  £2400 is 320 weeks (6 years) wages @ £7 10s a week.

Average 2019 salary (Office for National Statistics and Fantasy) was £36611, equating to £222,5000 making ShaunJ's comparator pretty much on the money.

MaxD

   
I am Zoe Northeast, granddaughter of Maximilian Double.
 
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With deep sadness,
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Offline jc26red

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #13 on: Monday 01 June 20 16:13 BST (UK) »
Pretty sure the price of petrol in 1954 was per gallon not litres. Need to divide the price by 4.56 to finish price per litre.

I remember fuel being 1s-3d per gallon and I wasn't born in 1954  ;D :P
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Online ShaunJ

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #14 on: Monday 01 June 20 16:15 BST (UK) »
Quote
Pretty sure the price of petrol in 1954 was per gallon not litres

4/6 per gallon = approximately 1/- per litre
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Offline Gadget

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #15 on: Monday 01 June 20 17:09 BST (UK) »
I think my pocket money was 6d a week  8)

PS - I'm sure petrol was 33p a gallon in 1972-3, just before the oil crisis.
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Offline medpat

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #16 on: Monday 01 June 20 17:19 BST (UK) »
Average wage at the time

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18416654

Their yearly survey showed that the average salary in the UK for men and women combined was £29,009, which includes those in both full-time and part work. For those in full-time work, the average UK salary is £35,423 and £12,083 for those in part-time.Nov 13, 2019

Roughly 40 times the amount from 1955 so £40.00
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Offline MaxD

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Re: Value of £1 in 1955
« Reply #17 on: Monday 01 June 20 17:36 BST (UK) »
Not a great difference between our ONS figure of 36.6 and the Aus figure of 35.4 but it does point up how fraught statistics can be (see present day daily announcements!).

MaxD
I am Zoe Northeast, granddaughter of Maximilian Double.
 
It is with great difficulty I share with you that in the early hours of 07 August 2021, Maximilian passed away unexpectedly but peacefully.

With deep sadness,
Zoe



Double  Essex/Suffolk
Randle/Millington Warwicks
Sokser/Klingler Austria/Croatia