The Cost of Living in 1890’s
Living Well in London
The cost of a visit to London depends of course on the habits and tastes of the traveler. If he lives in a first-class hotel, dines at the table d’hote, drinks wine, frequents the theater and other places of amusement, and drives about in cabs or flys instead of using the economical train or omnibus, he must be prepared to spend 30-40(shillings) a day or upwards. Persons of moderate requirements, however, will have little difficulty in living comfortably and seeing the principal sights of London for an expenditure of 15-20*.(shillings) a day or even less.
A moderate dinner in a restaurant at the time would cost about a shilling ($.25)
Typical Weekly Prices Average Hotel
| Item | £/S/d |
| Rent | 0/7/0 |
| Breakfasts | 0/2/8 |
| Dinners | 0/7/0 |
| Teas | 0/1/0 |
| Boot-cleaning | 0/0/3 |
| Coal and Wood | 0/1/0 |
| Washing | 0/0/9 |
| Tobacco, etc. | 0/0/6 |
For Most People…
Unlike the relative closeness of modern economic and social classes, which form a spectrum, large gaps separated those in Victorian England so that moving from one class (or really set of classes) to another required a kind of quantum leap. Thus, doubling a worker’s wages would not, as it would now, markedly improve his or her lifestyle, particularly in regard to sanitation and healthiness, because such enormous gaps existed between the costs of housing for the working and middle classes that one would have had to raise the wages enormously to affect the kind of available housing. In terms of life itself, it really mattered little how a labourer’s wage varied between, say, 12s and 15s a week,if a dwelling-house with water supply, sewers and sanitation, in paved and drained streets, could not be afforded on any income under, say, 30s a week.
Wages
Workers in London received the following wages per day for a 10-hour day 6 day week Annual is in ( ).
Factory laborers 5s. 3d. = (£81/18 per year) ($1.56 per day)
Excavators wearing their own “long water boots” 6s. 9d. = = (£105/6 per year)
Bricklayers, carpenters, masons, smiths 9s. 9d. = (£152/2 per year)
Railroad engineers 11s/3d = (£175/10 per year)
Mail Coach Guard … 15/0 + tips = (£42 +/- per year)
Female telegraph clerk … 12/0 = (£31/2 per year)
London artisans … 52/0 = (£135/2 per year)
Common laborers … 30/0 = (£78 per year)
Farm hands … 21/0 = (£54/6 per year)
Sailors … 22/10 = (£59/7 per year)
Seaman on steamers … 24/6 = (£63/7 per year)
In better paid positions, particularly the professions, salaries were indicated in annual amounts.
Army Cornet … £300/0/0 (third and lowest grade of commissioned officer in a British cavalry troop, after captain and lieutenant. Modern 2nd Lieutenant)
Indian Civil Service officer … £450/0/0
Servants, who had all living expenses taken care of, may earn as little as £10/year. The sign of being (or having become) a member of the middle class was having at least one servant. Not all families could afford Live in Servants. See the page on Servants for more wage information and examples
Average Weekly Expenditure: Upper Working Class Family of 4 living in 2 room flat
| Item |
£/S/d |
| Meat |
0/4/0 |
|
Bread (10 loaves) |
0/2/3.5 |
| Flour |
0/2/0 |
| Vegetables (18 lbs) |
1/0/0 |
| Other Vegetables |
0/0/4 |
| Butter |
0/1/0 |
| Fruit |
0/1/6 |
| Milk (1 1/2d per day) |
0/10.5 |
| Tea (1/2 lb) |
0/1/0 |
| Cocoa (1/2 lb) |
0/0/6 |
| Sugar (4 lbs) |
0//0/10 |
| Soap (1 1/2 lbs) |
0/0/6 |
| Soda, starch, blue |
0/0/.5 |
| Candles |
0/0/1 |
| Parafin (1/2 gallon a fortnight) [Kerosene] |
0/0/3 |
| Coal (1 cwt) |
0/1/3 |
| Beer (3 pints at 3 1/2d) |
0/10.5 |
| Rent |
0/5/6 |
| Boots (for whole family) |
0/1/8 |
| Clothes for the man |
0/1/0 |
| Clothes for wife and children |
0/2/0 |
| School fees |
0/0/4 |
| Provident Club [savings] |
0/1/6.5 |
| Medical expenses wife&children |
0/0/3 |
| TOTAL per WEEK |
2/6/9.5 |
| Total Monthly |
9/7/3 |
| Total Annual |
£112/7 |
Annual Cost of Living for a typical, Middle Class, rising professional man with wife, children and a house with a £700 annual income |
|
| Item | £/S/d |
| Rent and Taxes |
100/0/0 |
| Two maids |
42/0/0 |
| Food & Cleaning materials For 4 people plus servants |
104/0/0 |
| Washing |
26/0/0 |
| Coal 1 ton/month |
12/0/0 |
| Gas Light, candles, etc |
18/0/0 |
| Wine |
10/0/0 |
| Office expenses Train fare and lunches |
30/0/0 |
| Insurance |
25/0/0 |
| Dress x2 |
80/0/0 |
| Savings |
50/0/0 |
|
TOTAL |
£487/0/0 |
| Source: Bowley | |