First Aid

Carrying on with the mini series of tins, here is a small tin that contained plasters for minor wounds. The company, A De St Dalmas & Co Ltd from Leicester was established in 1823. This tin still contains the internal wax paper wrapping and two plasters. For those of a post decimal vintage, the 6D on the front is the price, ie 6 pence (pennies) or about 2.5 pence in todays money. This was in the days when there were 240 pennies in the pound. The coinage went like this:-

£1 was a note and was coloured green. There were 20 shillings in a pound and 12 pennies in a shilling, therefore 240 pennies in a pound.

10 Shillings was a note and coloured brown. This was equal to 120 pennies.

A Crown was a coin worth 5 shillings or 60 pennies. There were 4 to a pound It was big and heavy.

A Half Crown was a coin and worth two and a half shillings or 2 and 6. This was 30 pennies. There were 8 to a pound, also big and heavy.

A Florin was a coin and worth 2 shillings. This was equal to 24 pennies. There were 10 to a pound.

A Shilling was a coin and worth 12 pennies. There were 20 to a pound.

A sixpence was a small coin and worth 6 pennies. There were 40 to a pound.

A Thruppeny bit was a small coin worth 3 pennies. There were 80 to a pound.

A Penny was a coin. There were 240 of these in a pound.

A Halfpenny. There were 2 to a penny or 480 to the pound.

A Farthing. This was a quarter of a penny or 960 to a pound.

Now I hope you have got all that because there will be an exam tomorrow.

I can remember constantly having the pockets in my trousers repaired. This was because the weight of the coinage you used to get in change was so heavy and soon wore holes in them. A middle management wage in the early 1950's was between £5 an £7 per week. Anyone on £1000 a year was filthy rich.