£p - Decimalisation in the UK - "D-Day"

[UK Decimal +]

Decimalisation Day - what really happened

A question asked recently has made me think that an article on decimalisation might be useful.   I am writing it from a practical viewpoint as I do not have details of the legislation involved.   First, a story about the changeover which I will follow with details of the coins involved.

At the time of the changeover, the weekend of 14/15 February 1971, I was working part-time in a local pub and when I asked the landlord who was going to update all the prices he thanked me for volunteering.   I had a document which showed 'before and after' prices which were rounded to the nearest Half New Penny.   The new prices were completely fair and some dropped marginally.   We had a small supply of new 2p, 1p and ½p coins.

On the Saturday evening, I marked all the shelves and beer pumps with the new prices, using adhesive labels and thick marking pen, in such a way that customers could see the prices across the bar; the old price was also shown in small writing so that if there were any queries about prices the old ones were still available.   Similar stickers were applied to the keys of the tills.

The next lunchtime, I was the first on duty and was booked to work in the lounge bar (although it was usual to assist in the public bar if needed).   Suffice to say that I was the only member of staff there who was able to work the new system without having to stop and think about it and did most of the work in both bars, leaving the other staff to collect glasses and do the washing up.   The takings were a record for a Sunday lunchtime and I received a handsome bonus.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

£sd - as it was

A quick reminder about the currency in use at the time, together with a few comments about it.

The most important point to remember is that the £1 (Pound) remained unchanged in value at decimalisation but the Penny changed in value and the term 'New Penny' was born.   The Pound had comprised 240 Pennies but now it was to consist of 100 New Pennies.   From the dictionary: Penny, plural Pennies for a quantity of coins and Pence for a price.

£1 (One Pound) consisted of 20/- (Twenty Shillings) or 240d (Two Hundred and Forty Pennies).   It follows that 1/- (One Shilling) comprised 12d (Twelve Pennies).

The notes in everyday use were £5 (Five Pounds), £1 (One Pound) and 10/- (Ten Shillings).   The £5 was, however, not often seen.

The coins were 2/6 (Half Crown), 2/- (Florin), 1/- (Shilling), 6d (Sixpence), 3d (Threepence), 1d (Penny) and ½d (Halfpenny).   The ¼d (Farthing) had been demonetised 31 Dec 1960).   There were a few 5/- (Crown) coins although I do not remember seeing any.   The 3d still existed in two varieties, the old silver ones and the newer brass ones although it was unusual to see the former by that time.

It is interesting to note that the 2/- (Florin) was effectively already a decimal coin as there were Ten of them to £1 (One Pound).   This denomination of coin had been introduced in 1848 and was to have some bearing on subsequent events.

The illustration shows a set of pre-decimal coins for 1944 and all of these (except the Farthing) were in regular use at the time of decimalisation.   This illustration has appeared here before, but it will serve the purpose.

Bill.

[MS]

Bill

That was extremely useful to me as I didn't previously understand pre-decimal British coinage. My familiarity with these currency terms was limited to coming across the terminologies in old/classic English literature.

From your post I infer that 2/6 (Half Crown) is actually 2 Shilling and 6 Pence? Its a bit of a Eureka moment for me LOL because I previously never understood why half a crown is 2/6, is it a fraction or what. I now understand it and the fact that half a crown couldn't have a decimal representation.

You may be aware that the British left a pre-decimal system in India as well where 16 annas made a rupee, a anna comprised of 4 pice, and a pice comprised of 3 pies. 15 Rupees also made a Mohur. A Rupee could be divided into 192 pies or 1/12 anna as they were later called. Old timers in India still refer to 50 paisa as 8 annas.

MS

[UK Decimal +]

£sd - as it was

Before moving on to decimal coins, another look at the old ones.

This is the 1953 set issued by the Royal Mint.   The coins are struck to Circulation standard.

The wording in the top-right of the upper illustration reads:

OBVERSE DESIGN BY MRS. M. GILLICK
NEW REVERSE DESIGNS: 1/-E. 1/-Sc. & 3D BY MR. W. GARDNER.
2/6. 2/-. & 6D BY MR. E. FULLER.  MODELLED BY MR. CECIL THOMAS.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1968 - the first decimal coins

Although D-Day was set for Sunday, 15 February 1971 the first new coins appeared in 1968.   The 10p and 5p, being the exact equivalents of the 2/- and 1/- coins were issued and brought into use in 1968, bearing that date.   The Royal Mint says that the old coins were redenominated: "With the introduction of the decimal coinage in 1971 the pre-decimal two shilling coin was redenominated as a 10p piece and these two shilling coins continued to circulate alongside the 10p coins until 1993." and "With the introduction of the decimal coinage in 1971 the pre-decimal one shilling coin was re-denominated as a 5p coin and these old shilling coins continued to circulate alongside the 5p coin until 1990."

The coins in everyday use during 1968 became 2/6, 2/- and 10p, 1/- and 5p, 6d, 3d, 1d, ½d.   Remember that the 1/- (Shilling) came in two versions from 1937, one England, the other Scotland, but I shall not make frequent reference to this.   It was not unusual to see 'copper' coins (actually bronze, but usually referred to in general terms as 'coppers') although most 'silver' coins were, from 1947 onwards, in cupro-nickel (92.5% silver had been used until a change to 50% in 1920) and pre-1920 'silver' was rarely seen.

The illustrations show the 10p and 5p of 1968.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1968 - the new coins are displayed

During 1968, the Royal Mint issued a set comprising the 10p and 5p of 1968 together with 2p, 1p and ½p dated 1971.   The coins are to Circulation standard.   The set and its accompanying leaflet come in a blue plastic wallet.   I seem to remember that they were available from all Post Offices.

If you happen to purchase a set like this, please be careful where you purchase it.   It is listed in Coin Yearbook 2010 at £2.50, but mine cost 40p only a couple of months ago.

Here is the set.   I've juggled with the scans of the leaflet to try to make them more readable.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1969 - still not D-Day

On 01 August 1969, the ½d (Halfpenny) was demonetised, following in the path of the ¼d (Farthing) which had gone 31 December 1960.   Such low values were no longer needed.   The lowest value coin was now the 1d (Penny).

A new coin, the 50p (Fifty New Pence) was introduced during October 1969 and the 10/- (Ten Shillings) note began its decline, lasting only another year.

More 10p and 5p were also struck.

The full list of currency in regular use at the end of 1969 was: £5 (note), £1 (note), 10/- (note) and 50p, 2/6, 2/- and 10p, 1/- and 5p, 6d, 3d (silver and brass), 1d.

Although there had already been several changes, we didn't really notice it at the time as everything seemed to be happening slowly.   The 10/- note and ½d just faded away and we accepted the new 50p coin.   The whole decimalisation programme was so well timed that each phase went almost unnoticed on a day-to-day basis.

Illustrated below is a 1969 50p coin, one of 188,400,000 introduced during the year.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1970 - two more demonetised

The next change was that the 2/6 (Halfcrown) was demonetised 01 January 1970.   Its place could still be taken by 10p or 2/- + 6d, so it wasn't missed.

Another change came later in the year when the 10/- note was demonetised 22 November 1970.   This had been replaced by the 50p coin about a year previously.

Sorry, right out of 10/- notes, so I can't illustrate one.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1971 - D-Day dawns

When D-Day finally dawned, it was almost an anti-climax.   I have described my part in it in the first item here.

Yes, many old adding machines and tills had to be either altered or renewed, along with other 'cash equipment', even the lowly bus ticket.   As much of the equipment was pre-war, it was due for replacement anyway and a lot of things could still be used.  I have noted that all that had to be done to the tills in the pub where I worked was to stick labels over some of the keys and also the 'flags'.   But that was before the days of built-in obsolescence so we just did what was necessary ourselves and got on with the job.

Around the beginning of February, bulk supplies of new 2p, 1p and ½p coins were available from banks.   Whilst every effort was made to use these when giving change, it was sometimes necessary to use the old coins.   This was quite acceptable, although all transactions were made quoting the new prices and any change in old coins was 'calculated' to pretend that it was the new money; usually only a few pennies were involved.

We had been told not to calculate the amount of change due.   The method to use follows:-

Cost of goods purchased:   £3.33     Amount tendered:   £5
Start building it up to whole numbers:   £3.33 + 2p = £3.35, +5p = £3.40, +10p = £3.50, +50p = £4, +£1 = £5 (the amount tendered) - change given.   It must also be remembered that adding machines were not in everyday use and the day of the electronic calculator had yet to come.   All sums were done in the head (or occasionally on a scrap of paper); the 'new' method of giving change did away with the need to subtract.

At D-Day, the following were in use:   £5 (note), £1 (note), 50p, 2/- and 10p, 1/- and 5p, 6d, 3d and 1d plus the new 2p, 1p and ½p.   It was quite acceptable to use any combination of these as necessary.

The new 2p, 1p and ½p have already been mentioned as first introduced in the sets in 1968, albeit dated 1971.   Some of them are still in use, although the ½p has since gone the way of the ½d.   The real reason why many of the early 2p and 1p coins have disappeared is that they were made of bronze, whereas copper-plated steel is now the preferred material.

Illustrations are of the 2p (1,454,856,250 struck), 1p (1,512,666,250 struck) and ½p (1,394,188,250 struck) for 1971.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1971 - more changes

As the new coins worked into everyday use, and bearing in mind that the new 10p and 5p had exact equivalents in the old 2/- and 1/-, it was soon possible to withdraw some of the other remaining old coins.

The brass 3d and the 1d were demonetised 31 August 1971.   Increasing supplies of new coins pushed them into oblivion and they had hardly been in use from perhaps the middle of March (although I'm working from memory here).

The coins in use at the end of 1971 (decimalisation year) were the 50p, 10p and 2/-, 5p and 1/-, 6d, 2p, 1p and ½p.   It will be noticed that the old 6d led a somewhat charmed life but it was retained as it was still in use for a number of vending machines.

With D-Day gone, everything running smoothly, and only three coins, two of them having exact decimal counterparts, still to be withdrawn, it might appear that this story is nearly told, but there are many more changes which will take us up to 1998 to complete.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1972 - the first commemorative

A new coin made an appearance during 1972.   This was a commemorative piece valued at 25p, the exact decimal equivalent of 5/- (Crown) and was issued for the Silver Wedding of the Queen and Prince Philip.   It is interesting that none of the 25p commemoratives issued during various years carried a denomination.

Although covered elsewhere, it is illustrated again here as the first of the series.

Bill.

[paddyirish]

Bill, fascinating stuff. All this happened before I was born, so it is great to hear from the horse's mouth what went on.  I had no idea there was so much to the story- obviously you can tell roughly which of the new coins were available when, from the dates on the coins, but I wasn't aware of which coins were simultaneously in circulation.

Two questions
1) how did you find the maths for giving change when people gave a mix of pre-decimal and decimal coins?
2) was the mood of general enthusiasm, quiet acceptance, a few noisy objectors or full scale riot?

[UK Decimal +]

A couple of useful questions.

1)   Remember that 1p (New Penny) = 2.4d and also that the 5p = 1/- and 10p = 2/- and you will realise that the main ('silver') coins merely changed their face value but not purchasing power.   The 'coppers' could be made up by using the nearest equivalent old coins so that if you had no 1p coins, you could give 2½d of old money, etc.   I put a suitable list on our tills in the pub and most shops did the same.   But we had already been told just prior to D-Day to "Think Decimal" all the time which meant 'get it up to the nearest 5p and then work on from there'.   The main thing is that the 'silver' was treated as the major part of the transaction and was recognisable by its size.

2)   I think that the fact that we had record takings for a Sunday lunchtime in the pub confirms that most people were prepared to give it a try.   There were some older people who found it confusing but I used to take them aside and explain to them in the manner of 1) how it worked, and usually it just fell into place.   The only down side was that decimalisation was followed by high inflation which many blame on decimalisation, although that was definately not the cause.   On the following (Monday) morning, there were no queues in the railway booking offices at either Bournemouth Central or East Croydon stations, so I can only assume that all was going well.   But those were the days when you were given the tools for the job and just got on and did the job.

Possibly part of the success is that some of the new coins (the 'silver' ones) were aready in circulation and everyone knew that the old Shilling was now called Five New Pence.   Note that 'New' was included, even on the coins themselves.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1980 - an old friend vanishes

30 June 1980 saw the 6d (Sixpence) demonetised.

It was first introduced back in 1551 during the reign of Edward VI and at the time of decimalisation it was given a value of 2½p.   It had been retained as it was used in many vending machines, including London Underground ticket machines but by 1980 it was no longer needed.   Even the newest ones were dated 1967 and most in use at the end were cupro-nickel ones dating from 1947 onwards, although a few older ones with a silver content could still be seen occasionally.

Bill.

[UK Decimal +]

1981 - looking ahead?

1981 saw the last circulation issues of two decimal coins.   Perhaps changes were already envisaged.

The last 25p commemorative Crown (relating to Prince Charles & Lady Diana's Wedding) appeared  and 26,773,600 were produced to Circulation standard.   The 25p coins have their own topic.

The other 'last Circulation issue' was the 10p which was to re-appear later in another form.   It continued to be produced annually in both BU and Proof guise until 1992, but that does not really concern us here.

Bill.