Decimal Day
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
decimalised
Decimalisation
Decimal currency is the term used to describe any currency that is based on one basic unit of currency and a sub-unit which is a power of 10, most commonly 100....
their currencies
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
.
Old system
Under the old currency of poundsPound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
, shillings and pence
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...
, the pound was made up of 240 pence (denoted by the letter d for Latin denarius
Denarius
In the Roman currency system, the denarius was a small silver coin first minted in 211 BC. It was the most common coin produced for circulation but was slowly debased until its replacement by the antoninianus...
and now referred to as "old pence"), with 12 pence in a shilling and 20 shillings (denoted by s for Latin solidus
Solidus (coin)
The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.-Roman and Byzantine coinage:...
) in a pound. Especially in an era before widespread computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
use, monetary calculation, such as adding up sums of money, was more complicated than with a decimal currency. Tourists were also confused by coins such as the "half-crown" (worth two shillings and sixpence, or one eighth of a pound). The loss of value of the currency meant that the penny
British One Penny coin (pre-decimal)
The English Penny, originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 g pure silver, includes the penny introduced around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia. However, his coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period, and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had gone before it, which were...
, with the same diameter as the U.S. half dollar
Half dollar (United States coin)
Half dollar coins have been produced nearly every year since the inception of the United States Mint in 1794. Sometimes referred to as the fifty-cent piece, the only U.S. coin that has been minted more consistently is the cent.-Circulation:...
, was of relatively slight value (the farthing, worth one-quarter of an old penny, had been demonetised in 1960).
Background
Following the rejection by ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
of Lord Wrottesley's
John Wrottesley, 1st Baron Wrottesley
John Wrottesley, 1st Baron Wrottesley , known as Sir John Wrottesley, 9th Baronet, from 1787 to 1838, was a British soldier and Member of Parliament....
proposals to decimalise sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
in 1824 (prompted by the introduction in 1795 of the decimal French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
), little practical progress towards decimalisation was made for over a century, with the exception of the two-shilling silver florin (worth 1/10 of a pound) first issued in 1849. A double florin or four-shilling piece was a further step in that direction but failed to gain acceptance and was struck only from 1887 to 1890.
The Decimal Association was founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication
Metrication
Metrication refers to the introduction and use of the SI metric system, the international standard for physical measurements. This has involved a long process of independent and systematic conversions of countries from various local systems of weights and measures. Metrication began in France in...
(the metric system is still not in full use in the UK), both causes that were boosted by a realisation of the importance of international trade following the 1851 Great Exhibition. It was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued.
In their preliminary report, the Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
on Decimal Coinage (1856–1857) considered the benefits and problems of decimalisation but did not draw any conclusion about the adoption of any such scheme. A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
John Hubbard came out against the idea, claiming it had "few merits".
In 1862, the Select Committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures.
The decimalisation movement even entered fiction. In Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
's Palliser novels
Palliser novels
The Palliser novels are six novels by Anthony Trollope.The common thread is the wealthy aristocrat and politician Plantagenet Palliser and his wife Lady Glencora...
(and more so in the television series based on them), Plantagenet Palliser
Plantagenet Palliser
Plantagenet Palliser, Duke of Omnium and Earl of Silverbridge, is a main character in the Palliser series of novels, also known as the "Parliamentary Novels," by Anthony Trollope....
is a passionate advocate of decimalisation, a cause the other characters seem to find intensely boring. Palliser's scheme would have divided the shilling into ten (presumably revalued) pennies. This would have changed the threepence into 2.5 new pence, the sixpence into fivepence and the half crown into a two shilling, five pence piece. It would also have required the withdrawal and reissuance of the existing copper coinage. At the end of the fifth book in the series, The Prime Minister, Palliser (now Duke of Omnium) muses that the reform will not be accomplished, since it can only be done by a Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
sitting in the House of Commons, and the Duke now sits in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
The Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1918–20), chaired by Lord Emmott
Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott
Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott GCMG, GBE, PC was a British businessman and Liberal Party politician.-Background and education:...
, reported in 1920 that the only feasible scheme was to divide the pound into 1000 mills
Mill (currency)
The mill or mille is a now-abstract unit of currency used sometimes in accounting. In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to of a United States dollar...
(the pound and mill system), first proposed in 1824 but that this would be too inconvenient. A minority of four members disagreed, saying that the disruption would be worthwhile. A further three members recommended that the pound should be replaced by the Royal, consisting of 100 halfpennies (i.e. there would be 4.8 Royals to the former pound).
Finally, in 1960, a report prepared jointly by the British Association for the Advancement of Science
British Association for the Advancement of Science
frame|right|"The BA" logoThe British Association for the Advancement of Science or the British Science Association, formerly known as the BA, is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating interaction between...
and the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, followed by the success of decimalisation in South Africa, prompted the Government to set up the Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency (Halsbury Committee) in 1961, which reported in 1963. The adoption of the changes suggested in the report was announced on 1 March 1966. The Decimal Currency Board (DCB) was created to manage the transition, although the plans were not approved by Parliament until the Decimal Currency Act in May 1969. Former Greater London Council
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
leader Bill Fiske
Bill Fiske
William Geoffrey Fiske, Baron Fiske OBE , commonly known as Bill Fiske, was the first Leader of the Greater London Council and oversaw the decimalisation of the Pound Sterling as Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board....
was named as the Chairman of the Decimal Currency Board.
Consideration was given to having a new unit of currency—suggested names included the new pound, the royal or the noble
Noble (English coin)
The Noble was the first English gold coin produced in quantity, having been preceded by the Gold penny and the Florin earlier in the reigns of King Henry III and King Edward III, which saw little circulation....
—worth ten shillings in the old currency which would have resulted in the "decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny (this approach was adopted, for example, when Australia and New Zealand decimalised in the 1960s, adopting respectively the Australian dollar
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
and New Zealand dollar
New Zealand dollar
The New Zealand dollar is the currency of New Zealand. It also circulates in the Cook Islands , Niue, Tokelau, and the Pitcairn Islands. It is divided into 100 cents....
equal in value to 10s). In the event, it was decided by Halsbury that the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency
Reserve currency
A reserve currency, or anchor currency, is a currency that is held in significant quantities by many governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves...
meant that the pound should remain unchanged.
Preparation
Under the new system, the pound was retained but was now divided into 100 "new pence", denoted by the symbol p. New coinage was issued alongside the old coins. The 5pBritish Five Pence coin
The British decimal five pence coin – often pronounced "five pee" – is a subdivision of pound sterling first issued on 23 April 1968 in preparation for the 1971 decimalisation of the currency. At that time it had the same value, size and weight as the existing shilling, and it may be...
and 10p
British Ten Pence coin
The British decimal ten pence coin – often pronounced "ten pee" – was issued on 23 April 1968 in preparation for the 1971 decimalisation of the currency. At that time it had the same value, size, and weight as the existing florin , and it may be viewed as a continuation of the older coin...
coins were first introduced in April 1968 and were the same size, composition and value as the shillings and florins in circulation with them. In October 1969 the 50p
British Fifty Pence coin
The British decimal fifty pence coin – often pronounced "fifty pee" – was issued on 14 October 1969 in the run-up to decimalisation to replace the ten shilling note...
coin was introduced and the old ten-shilling note was withdrawn in November 1970. This reduced the number of new coins that had to be introduced on Decimal Day and meant that the public was already familiar with three of the six new coins. Small booklets were made available containing some or all of the new denominations.
The old halfpenny
British Halfpenny coin
The British halfpenny coin was worth 1/480th of a pound sterling. At first in its 700 year history it was made from silver but as the value of silver increased, the coin was made from base metals. It was finally abandoned in 1969 as part of the process of decimalising the British currency...
was withdrawn from circulation on 31 July 1969, and the half-crown (2s 6d) followed on 31 December to ease the transition. (The farthing
British Farthing coin
A farthing was a coin of England, Great Britain, and finally of the United Kingdom, worth one quarter of a penny, 1/960th of a pound sterling...
had last been minted in 1956 and had ceased to be legal tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
in 1960.)
A massive publicity campaign commenced in the weeks before decimalisation day, including a song by Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...
called "Decimalisation". The BBC broadcast a series of five-minute programmes, "Decimal Five", to which The Scaffold
The Scaffold
The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear , Roger McGough and John Gorman.-Career:...
contributed some specially written tunes. ITV repeatedly broadcast a short drama called Granny Gets The Point, where an elderly woman who does not understand the new system is taught to use it by her grandson. Banks were closed from 3:30pm on Wednesday, 10 February 1971 until 10:00am on Monday 15 February, enabling them to stock up with the new coins. February had been chosen for D-Day because it was the quietest time of the year for the banks, shops, and transport organisations.
Many items were priced in both currencies for some time before and after. Prior to Decimal Day the double pricing was displayed as e.g. 1s(5p); from Decimal Day the order was switched to 5p(1s). For example, this order was used on most football programmes during the 1970/71 season. High denomination (10p, 20p, and 50p) stamps were issued on 17 June 1970.
Exceptions to the February 15 introduction were British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
and London Transport
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council which had covered a much smaller area...
, which went decimal one day early, the former urging customers, if they chose to use pennies or threepenny pieces, to pay them in sixpenny lots. Bus companies were another exception going decimal on Sunday 21 February.
After Decimal Day
Decimal Day itself went smoothly and did not even form the lead story the following day in most national newspapers. Criticisms included the small size of the new halfpenny coinBritish Half Penny coin
The British decimal half penny was first issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice it had been available from banks in bags for some weeks previously....
and the fact that some traders had taken advantage of the transition to raise prices. Some used new pennies as sixpences in vending machines.
The new ½p, 1p
British One Penny coin
The British decimal one penny coin, produced by the Royal Mint, was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice, it had been available from banks in bags of £1 for some weeks previously...
and 2p
British Two Pence coin
The British decimal two pence coin – often pronounced "two pee" – was issued by the Royal Mint on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice it had been available from banks in bags of £1 for some weeks previously...
were introduced on 15 February 1971. Within two weeks of Decimal Day, the penny
British One Penny coin (pre-decimal)
The English Penny, originally a coin of 1.3 to 1.5 g pure silver, includes the penny introduced around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia. However, his coins were similar in size and weight to the continental deniers of the period, and to the Anglo-Saxon sceats which had gone before it, which were...
(1d) and threepenny
British Threepence coin
The threepence or thrupenny bit was a denomination of currency used by various jurisdictions in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, until decimalisation of the pound sterling and Irish pound in 1971...
(3d) coins had left circulation and even sixpences were becoming rare. On 31 August 1971, the penny and threepenny were officially withdrawn from circulation, ending the transition period.
The government hoped that in speech the new units would be called "new pence", but many decided that it was clearer and quicker to pronounce the new coins as "pee". Shortenings such as "tuppence" are now rarely heard and terms such as "tanner" (the silver sixpence), which previously designated amounts of money, are no longer used. However, the slang word "quid"—referring to a pound and dating from pre-decimal times—has survived to the present day.
Solidus (punctuation)
The solidus is a punctuation mark used to indicate fractions including fractional currency. It may also be called a shilling mark, an in-line fraction bar, or a fraction slash....
, or slash, between the digits: 17p multiplied by 2 = 34, — approximately equal to 3/4 ("three and four", or three shillings and four pence), with a similar process for the reverse conversion. The willingness of a young population to embrace the change also helped. In general, elderly people had more difficulty adapting and the phrase "How much is that in old money?" became associated with those who struggled with the change. (This phrase is now often used semi-facetiously to ask for conversion from metric to imperial weights and measures.)
Around the time of Decimalisation Day, "Decimal Adders" and other converters were available to help people convert between the old and new coins. The following is a table showing conversions between the decimal and pre-decimal systems.
| Pre-decimal | | Decimal | |
|---|---|---|
| Common name | Amount | |
| Farthing | ¼d. | p ≈ 0.104p |
| Halfpenny | ½d. | p ≈ 0.208p |
| Penny | 1d. | p ≈ 0.417p |
| Threepence | 3d. | 1¼p |
| Sixpence | 6d. | 2½p |
| Shilling | 1/- | 5p |
| Florin | 2/- | 10p |
| Half crown | 2/6 | 12½p |
| Crown | 5/- | 25p |
| Pound | 20/- | 100p |
| Guinea | 21/- | 105p |
Validity of old coins
All pre-decimal coins (except for certain non-circulating coins such as sovereignsBritish Sovereign coin
The sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.Named after the English gold sovereign, last minted in 1604, the name was revived with the Great Recoinage of 1816. Minting these new sovereigns began in 1817...
and double florins which were explicitly excluded from demonetisation) are now no longer legal tender. Public outcry at the proposed demise of the old sixpence
British sixpence coin
The sixpence, known colloquially as the tanner, or half-shilling, was a British pre-decimal coin, worth six pence, or 1/40th of a pound sterling....
(6d), worth exactly 2½p and originally slated for early withdrawal, postponed its withdrawal until June 1980.
Shillings and florins
British Two Shilling coin
The British two shilling coin, also known as the florin or "two bob bit" was issued from 1849 until 1967. It was worth one tenth of a pound, or twenty-four old pence...
, together with their same-sized 5p and 10p coin equivalents, co-existed in circulation as valid currency until the early 1990s. In theory this included coins dating back to 1816; in practice the oldest were dated 1947 when these values stopped containing silver. The coins were withdrawn when smaller 5p and 10p coins were introduced in 1990 and 1992 respectively.
The face value of Maundy money coins was maintained, effectively increasing all their face values by a factor of 2.4, as the coins continued to be legal tender
Legal tender
Legal tender is a medium of payment allowed by law or recognized by a legal system to be valid for meeting a financial obligation. Paper currency is a common form of legal tender in many countries....
as new pence. The numismatic
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
value of each coin, though, greatly exceeds face value.
Subsequent changes
The decimal halfpennyBritish Half Penny coin
The British decimal half penny was first issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised. In practice it had been available from banks in bags for some weeks previously....
(½p), introduced in 1971, remained in circulation until 1984, by which time its value had been greatly reduced by inflation. It was not struck, except for collectors' sets, after 1983 (those dated 1984 struck only as proofs or in Uncirculated Mint Sets) and was demonetised on 31 December 1984. The 50p piece was reduced in size in 1997, following the reduction in size of the 5p in 1990 and the 10p in 1992 (the large versions of each of the three are now demonitised). The 1p and 2p underwent a compositional change from bronze to plated steel in 1992. However, both coins remain valid back to 1971, the only circulating coins valid on Decimal Day still to be valid.
In 1982, the word "new" in "new penny" or "new pence" was removed from the inscriptions on coins, to be replaced by the number of pence in the denomination (i.e. "ten pence" or "fifty pence"). This coincided with the introduction of a new 20p coin, which, from the outset, simply bore the legend "twenty pence".
A new bi-metallic £2 coin was introduced in 1997, and continues to be minted. Before that date, commemorative £2 coins were minted in 1986, 1989, 1995 and 1996, but these are hardly ever found in circulation.
Designs on all coins £1 and under were changed in 2008 from the familiar 'Ironside' heraldic designs to a modern set of 'interlocking' designs by Dent, with individual coins making up a part of the shield (and the £1 coin showing the full shield).
Ireland
When the old pounds, shillings, and pence system was in operation, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, operated within the Sterling Area, effectively a single monetary area. The Irish pound had come into existence as a separate currency in 1927, but the terms of the Irish Currency Act obliged the Irish currency commissioners to redeem Irish pounds on a fixed 1:1 basis, and so day-to-day banking operations continued exactly as they had been before the creation of the Irish PoundIrish pound
The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the usual notation was the prefix £...
(known in Irish
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
as the punt).
This state of affairs continued until 1979 when Irish obligations to the European Monetary System
European Monetary System
There are three stages of monetary cooperation in the European Union.-Background:European currency exchange rate stability has been one of the most important objectives of European policy makers at least since the Second World War....
forced them to break the historic link with Sterling.
In Ireland, all pre-decimal coins, except the 1s, 2s and 10s coins, were called in during the initial process between 1969 to 1972; the ten shilling coin
Irish ten shilling coin
The ten shilling coin was a subdivision of the pre-decimal Irish pound, worth ½ of a pound, the highest value coin in the pre-decimal system....
, which, as recently issued and in any event equivalent to 50p, was permitted to remain outstanding (though due to silver content, the coin did not circulate). The 1s and 2s were recalled in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Pre-decimal Irish coins may still be redeemed at their face value equivalent in euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
at the Central Bank in Dublin.
Prior to decimalisation, low-value Irish postage stamps
Postage stamps of Ireland
The postage stamps of Ireland are issued by the postal operator of the independent Irish state. Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first postage stamps were issued in 1840. These stamps, and all subsequent British issues, were used in Ireland until...
used 'p' (for Irish pingin) rather than 'd' with the number of pence; so a twopenny stamp was marked '2p' in Ireland rather than '2d' as in the UK. After decimalisation, while British stamps switched from 'd' to 'p', Irish stamps switched to printing the number with no accompanying letter; so a stamp worth 2 new pence was marked '2p' in the UK and simply '2' in Ireland.
External links
- Decimal Currency — The System a public information filmPublic information filmPublic Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
produced to educate the public about the new system - Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency: report
- D Day delivers new UK currency (BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, On this Day, 15 February 1971) - Britain to go decimal in 1971 (BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, On this Day, 1 March 1966) - Decimalisation (Royal MintRoyal MintThe Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
) - The History Files: Decimalisation in the UK.