Prices of food, materials and labour in old England

These books were a help to me in understanding more about ancestors, right back to my 10x great grandfather and how he lived in the late 1500s. 

A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, Vol.III

George Taytt (Tait) was a bowyer (and a burgess of Perth) in Scotland in 1570.  Although these are prices in England, it gives me a rough idea, and also how it compared to other craftsmen. Turning to the pages for Prices of Labour and 1570-71, and the cities were all the same, a bowyer gets 1/- (or 1 shilling) for a day's work.

Prices of Labour 1570-1571

There are indexes in the back, one for names of places and a general index. Also information on currency and weights and measures. The beginning of each section tells you how to read the charts. 

This is an example of yearly wages, set down by the justices of peace in 1610 at Rutland, Oakham (between Nottingham and Peterborough)...

Wages at Rutland, 1610, mark 715

Relevant links

A history of agriculture and prices in England 1259-1793

Labour Day

When I was growing up Labour Day had nothing to do with work for me. It meant the last weekend at the cottage, closing it up for the harsh winter to come. The time for corn roasts and bonfires at the neighbours. The last weekend before school started.

According to wikipedia...  "Labour Day has its origins in the Labour Union Movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated 8 hours for work, 8 hours for recreation and 8 hours for rest."

Actually my first job was in a factory where I started at 7 in the morning and worked 9 hours a day, not counting the 1/2 hour for lunch and the 2 breaks of 15 minutes. It was a literal sweat shop as the machines heated to hot enough to quickly melt plastic sheets over the molds, and the only windows were way up near the high ceiling. I got paid $1 an hour or $45 a week.  It was a summer job and I never went back, but I did have an appreciation for people that worked these kinds of jobs and hours.

Canada and the United States celebrate Labour Day the first Monday in September. Other countries celebrate on May 1st and it is called Eight-Hour Day or International Worker's Day, and some on another day.



Relevant Links


Souvenir programme: Labour Day 1902, the union forever, San Francisco

The Labour Gazette, Canada

Annual Dept of Labour report 1920-1983: wage rates, salaries and hours of labour

The New South Wales Industrial Gazette, 2 volumes

Proceedings of American Federation of Labor

Louisville Industrial and Commercial Gazette

Labor Union Directory, Chicago 1939

Official directory of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council 1896

Directory of labor organizations in Massachusetts, various years

Directory of labor organizations in Montana, various years

Labour Day souvenir: Willows Park, Monday Sept 4th 1916, Victoria, BC

Labour Day souvenir: Allied Trades and Labour Association, 1898 Ottawa

Historical Labour Day 1898 souvenir: official programme Toronto

Official programme and souvenir of the Labour Day demonstration held at Dundurn Park, Hamilton, Ont., September 6th, 1897

Rules of the Labour Day Anniversary and Industrial Union, Toowoomba, 1943

Report of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labor in Canada, 1889;Part II (includes names of people and companies that were fined)

Royal Commission on Labour (commissioner names in back) - UK 1894

Other Reports of the Royal Commission on Labour

Industrial Edinburgh, 1921

Related Posts:  Occupations and Wages

CEF Pay Scale

Just going through the "Call To Arms: Montreal's Honour Roll" for WWI.
This is a record of those Montrealers, military and civil, who "served their Country and their Empire during the last five months of 1914".

Near the back of this publication there is a spread with the daily rates of pay for everyone from the Private all the way up the ladder to the Commander.

Turning the page you get the Pension & Disability rates for the wounded. There is more on separation allowance and assigned pay here.

I also find my great grandmother's name on the Montreal Relief Committee.

Relevant Links

Pay of Canadian Expeditionary Forces

Call of Arms:  Montreal's Honour Roll 1914

Serendipity Sunday - History of Prices in England

While doing my research on my Tait ancestors I came across these publications..

These helped me tell the story of my ancestors, giving prices of produce, dairy, beer and wine, cattle, candles, fuel etc, and what wages they might have made per day.  

I then found that there are issues for various years from 1259 to 1793 of "A History of Agriculture and Prices in England".

So I went in search of other publications that would give the cost of goods and wages at various times and places in history.

Related Links

History of Prices in England from 1259 - 1793 - table of prices

A history of agriculture and prices in England:

Vol I    1259-1400

Vol II   1259-1400

Vol III  1401-1582

Vol IV  1401-1582

Vol V   1583-1702

Vol VI  1583-1702

Vol VII  1703-1793 Part I

Vol VII  1703-1793 Part II

The diary and general expenditure book of William Cunningham of Craigends Scotland ... kept chiefly from 1673-1680

Wholesale prices in Canada 1890-1909

Prix des marchands seches et des produits de la ferme, Canada 1891

Comparative prices, Canada and the United States, 1906-1911

Foodstuffs, retail prices in twenty-four cities: US 1916

US Wholesale prices, wages and transportation, 1893

Price list of groceries, James Lumbers, Toronto 1888

The Canadian Grocer (Toronto publication)

Wholesale price list of groceries - spring 1894 / F.W. Humphrey, Toronto

The Master Grocer, California 1906, 1912, 1915

History of Wages in the United States from Colonial Times to 1928

Prices: An inquiry into prices in New Zealand 1891-1919

Trade unionism, unemployment, wages, prices and COL in Australia 1891-1912

Prices, Food and Wages in Scotland, 1550-1780 (Limited View)

Related Posts:

What's the Beef

Money and Cost of Living

Now we know what our ancestors did for a living, about what his wages were, but how far did those wages go?  Did husband and wife both have to work to make ends meet? Did the children have to work also? Remember I mentioned in the last article that on the 1911 Census they asked for occupations of persons 10 years of age and over. It was sad that many children were deprived of their childhood because they had to work to feed the family. Money, or lack thereof, had an impact on the way your ancestors lived.

Livres tournois were the first currency of the time in Canada, so called because they were first minted at the Abbey in the Touraine region of France.

Each livre was divided into 20 sols (sous after 1715) each of which was divided into 12 deniers.  Eight ounces of gold (a mark) was worth 740 livres, 9 sols; eight ounces of silver was worth 51 livres, 2 sols, 3 deniers. It took about 200 livres per year per person to live comfortably.

The first cheques were actually written on the backs of playing cards.  Later they used Treasury Notes like this one for 48 livres.   

Do you think your recent ancestor may have left some money in a bank?  When people die or move and their accounts aren't closed out, the money goes to the Bank of Canada.  I found that one of my aunts had over $200 in an account and I told my cousin so she could apply for it. You can search by name for unclaimed money at the Bank of Canada Website here .    



The Bank of Canada maintains custody of all balances of $1,000 or more for 100 years at the Bank of Canada after the 10-year inactivity period at the original bank. Unclaimed balances under $1,000 are retained for thirty years after the 10-year period. Balances must be claimed before the period in Bank of Canada custody ends.

If the balance remains unclaimed until the end of the prescribed custody period, the Bank of Canada transfers the funds to the Receiver General for Canada.

Happy treasure hunting!

                        

Relevant Links:

Coinage, wages and the cost of living in London

New France PDF (Bank of Canada)

What things cost in New France  

Historical Statistics  - world

Historical Retail Food Prices – USA

Old Measures

Unclaimed assets UK

Unclaimed Money Australia 

Unclaimed Money USA 

De Bernardy's Unclaimed Money Register: Being a List of Names of Persons - UK 1883

UK Treasury Bona Vacantia list of unclaimed estates

Richardson & Co unclaimed money register of British subjects who have died intestate in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, America and the Cape of Good Hope. 1880

 Cost of goods and labour in England 1259-1793

Occupations and Wages

Machine Shop - Grand Trunk Railroad - Pointe St Charles

Finding my great-grandfather on the Montreal Census I discover he is a Brass Finisher.  What is a Brass Finisher? I thought maybe he shined brass?  Not so!

While trying to find out just what a Brass Finisher did, I came across this book by Nelson Sizer, phrenologist. If you are researching a more modern day ancestor, you may want to take a look at it.

“Choice of pursuits; or, What to do, and why, describing seventy-five trades and professions, and the talents and temperaments required for each; also, how to educate, on phrenological principles, each man for his proper work. Together with portraits and biographies of more than one hundred successful thinkers and workers. – 1897”

The “portraits and biographies” are of well-known people in some of the trades they talk about.  It is a remake of his book The Road to Wealth and How to Follow It, 1882. Especially read under the chapter How to Educate, the part on "Conscientiousness".  Education starts in the nursery!

So I found that a brass finisher’s work is very precise. My great grandfather worked in the machine shop of the Grand Trunk Railroad, breathing in metal dust all day.  He died at the age of 60.

There is another free ebook at google called: Report: of the Royal Commission on the Relations of Capital and Labor in Canada. (Quebec Part II 1889). The beginning is Q&A with various labourers, how many employees they hire, how many hours worked, etc. Scroll down to about page 1367 alphabetical list of names of witnesses, and they talk about wages, and in some instances give the amounts.

The 1901 and 1911 Census of Canada asked for people to state their wages.  My Brass Finishing ancestor in 1901 stated he worked the 12 months and earned about $600 for the year. In 1911 he stated he worked 52 weeks, for 56 hours a week and earned $365 for the year of 1910. (Note that on the 1911 Census they asked for occupations of persons 10 years of age and over.) So what happened that almost 10 years later he is making half the wages?

You can also find wages in the Sessional papers.

Relevant Links:

Royal Road to Wealth: How to Find and Follow It 1882 - (trade/occupation descriptions)

Choice of pursuits, or, What to do and why(what it takes to master certain trades)

Commission Report on Labour (some wages)

Historic Value of Euro and other monies (good info on full site)

Cost of living Victorian Era

Comparative Wages, Prices, and Cost of Living 1885 (free ebook google)

Six Centuries of Work and Wages – England

History of Wages in the United States from Colonial Times to 1928

Wages– Soldiers of New France

Alphabetic Index of Occupations - US - gives industry for the occupations

Wages in the United Kingdom in the 19th Century - 1900