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Before 15 February 1971, [the British pound] was divided this way:

12d (pence) = 1s (shilling)
20s = one pound.

"penny" is the singular of "pence", as today. There were 240 pennies in a pound.

Why 'd'? One penny (1d) was formally called a 'denarius' [after the] Roman coin. This term was never used in popular language.

Sums below one pound (and sometimes over) were written s/d, such as 12/6 (said: twelve and six) or 5/- (said: five shillings).

There were a whole slew of [interesting] coins, including:

1/4d = farthing (from Anglo-Saxon, 'a fourth')
1/2d = ha'penny (half a penny)
3d = thruppence (a fourth of a shilling)
6d = sixpence (half a shilling)
2s = florin ("two bob bit"). A tenth of a pound.
2/6 = half crown ("two and six"). An eighth of a pound.

At the time of conversion, one shilling equaled 5p and one florin (two shillings) equaled 10p. A shilling in 1970 had [approximately] the value of 84p or $1.25 today.

The old pounds, shillings, pence system was a remnant of the early Middle Ages and Charlemagne! Continental Europe was all decimal coinage by the end of the 19th century. Tradition-bound Britain soldiered on until the beginning of the 70s.

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