Calculating the value of sums of money through the ages is tricky. The first and biggest question is what do you use as a reference point? Some simply figure a simple inflationary value. Some reference the price of goods, or multiple goods, as a reference. Salaries for common professions are not a bad reference, in my opinion. You also need to take into account remonitizations, as well, when the currency is exchanged for a new currency. Fortunately, with the British pound, I don’t believe this is a factor over this time period.

One web site which provides good answers to “which conversion do I use?” is: http://www.measuringworth.com/

Using the calculators on that site for the UK, I’d suggest that the £828 referenced in the diary above would be worth about £63,000 (2008 pounds) if the diarist were to go out and purchase something with the sum. In terms of a salary, the worth is nearly ten times that, as we have so much more stuff in our homes and other expenditures (electricity, telephone) these days.

Either way, it’s a considerable sum of money, equivalent to that of a mediocre national lottery grand prize winning ticket. The smaller sums that he was dropping at the whist table were pretty substantial, as well. Every pound was approximately eighty pounds in current purchasing power, so he was regularly up or down between two to eight thousand pounds at current prices. Which, today puts him into only middling high-stakes gambling territory, I believe. And while the trip to Paris comes in at about £7000, that probably was a moderately inexpensive holiday get-away at the time.

Hope this helps, and looking forward to reading your archives!