Wages and Cost of Living in the Victorian Era

James Skipper

Making a definitive statement about the cost of living in Victorian England is difficult, particularly in the last half of the century, because the economy went through a long period of growth, followed by slumps at the end of the nineteenth century. A worker in 1870 might make 150% what a worker in 1850 made, but because different prices had increased at different rates, the actual buying power of the wages increased only moderately.

At the end of the century, prices fell greatly, more rapidly than wages, so that despite a lower wage, the workers buying power actually increased.

The following tables provide a sampling of wage and cost of living information.

Wages

According to Porter (176), in the mid-1860s workers in London received the following wages for a 10-hour day and six-day week:

These wages reflect weekly pay in the mid- to late '60s (various sources listed below)


In better positions salaries are indicated in annual amount. Two positions for which information is available are:

Cost of Living
  • For a senior clerk (1844)
  • Rent
    25/0/0
    Taxes
    5/0/0
    Maid
    7/0/0
    Coal 5 tons
    6/5/0
    Candles and Wood
    2/0/0
    Tea
    7/16/6
    Sugar
    6/14/2
    Butter & Eggs
    9/12/0
    Meat
    18/6/0
    Fish
    2/0/0
    Vegetables
    5/0/0
    Beer
    6/10/0
    Washing woman
  • soap and her meals
  • 6/13/0
    Ironing and mangling
    1/0/0
    Clothing
    23/6/0
    Church and charity
    3/10/0
    Doctor
    5/0/0
    Misc.
    1/8/0
    Amusements
    1/19/4
    Savings
    6/0/0
    Total150/0/0
    Source: Hayward
    Cost of Living
  • For a typical, rising professional man
  • With a 700 pound annual income (early 1900's)
  • ItemCost in Pounds
    Rent and Taxes
    100
    Two maids
    42
    Food & Cleaning materials
  • For 4 people
  • 104
    Washing
    26
    Coal 1 ton/month
    12
    Electric Light
    18
    Wine
    10
    Office expenses
  • Trainfair and lunches
  • 30
    Insurance
    25
    Dress x2
    80
    Savings
    50
    TOTAL
    487
    Source: Bowley

    References

    Bowley, A. L., Wages in the United Kingdom in the 19th Century. Cambridge: University Press, 1900.

    Burnett, John, A History of the Cost of Living. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.

    Hayward, Arthur, The Days of Dickens. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1926.

    Porter, Dale H. The Thames Embankment: Environment, Technology, and Society in Victorian London. Akron, Ohio: University of Akron Press, 1998.


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    Last modified December 2003