Sixpence

[collin]

Hi
    I found that an ancestor was fined 6d in 1758, does anyone know what today's  equivalent would be?
Thank you

[KGarrad]

2.5p in decimal currency!

Approximately £2.92 in today's money.
(as per https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/)

[Maiden Stone]

6d was half a shilling. 1 shilling =5 new pence or 5p in modern decimal currency.
There are tables online which you can use to calculate modern equivalent values.
A day's wage for a labourer wouldn't have been more than a shilling in 1758.

[Maiden Stone]

Currency converter National Archives. Read the disclaimer before using the calculator.
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/

"Inflation: the Value of the Pound 1750-1998" , a research paper published 1999 suggests prices rose by around 118 times in the period. Tables include: price index, retail prices, value of pound, purchasing power of the pound. 

[collin]

Thank you, I remember the old money well, or proper money as the old folk called it at the time.
£2.92  seems a small penalty for taking part in the Manchester food riot

[suey]

Thank you, I remember the old money well, or proper money as the old folk called it at the time.
£2.92  seems a small penalty for taking part in the Manchester food riot

Is it not a bit irrelevant to see it in today’s terms?.  You would need to know his level of his wealth.
Imagine a labourer at one shilling a day, sixpence was half a days wage, which he could probably ill afford to lose.
I have an ancestor who was fined one pound and a few shillings costs, in default he went to ‘the house of correction for 14 days, this in 1867. As a labourer that may have been more than a weeks wage.

[Viktoria]

When I read the post first I thought it just was asking for the equivalent sum in decimal currency ,but answered  the phone and just got back on RootsChat and saw you wanted to know the equivalent value -thanks to another person’s answer.
A pound was 20 shillings ,a shilling was twelve pennies ,so 240 pennies in a pound,so six pence would be one fortieth of a pound.

One fortieth of the new pound ( which has 100 pennies )is 2.5 p.

How inflation has devalued that has been answered already .
Decimalisation was a big cheat !
Viktoria.

[Ruskie]

You might find this useful:

https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/

[collin]

Thank you, seems 6d was about half a days wages at that time.
it cost 6d bus fare for me to go to my grannies in 1971, on the first day I got on the bus and said  Two and a half new pence please, the bus driver said  theres no half fares, 3p, so that was 7d in old money and the first con on the first day!