British Pound

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.