Jack London says there were 1,292,737 people living in London in 1902 who were living in households with incomes of 21 shillings per week or less. He did some sums to work out how a family of five would spend their money. He wrote the costs out in dollars, because he was writing for an American readership, and used an exchange rate of $5 to £1.
Commodity US$ UK£ shillings+pence Rent 1.50 0.3 6,0 Bread 1.00 0.2 4,0 Meat 0.875 0.175 3,6 Vegetables 0.625 0.125 2,6 Coals 0.25 0.05 1,0 Tea 0.18 0.036 0,8.5 Oil 0.16 0.032 0,7.75 Sugar 0.18 0.036 0,8.5 Milk 0.12 0.024 0,5.75 Soap 0.08 0.016 0,3.75 Butter 0.20 0.04 0,9.5 Firewood 0.08 0.016 0,3.75 Total 5.25 1.05 21,0
21 shillings a week works out at £54 and 12 shillings a year. The book says that there would be many families with more than five members, and that there would be times when the main breadwinner would be unemployed, sick or otherwise unable to work. Then the family would be desperate. I sometimes thought Angel Clare was a bit stingy to Tess when he gave her £50 to keep herself for a year while he was away. I thought the real life George Gissing was a bit stingy too, when he paid his first wife £50 a year after separating from her. They maybe were a bit mean, but £50 a year was more than a lot of families had to live on. So when Bob Cratchet tried to provide for his family on fifteen shillings a week, Dickens was only exaggerating a little bit.
The same chapter gave the living expenses for a single woman working as a telephonist:
Rent, fire and light: $1.875
Board at home: $0.875
Board at office: $1.125
Street car hire: $0.375
Laundry: $0.25
Total: $4.50
I am not sure why the woman would have to pay two sets of board and rent. London says that many girls were in fact receiving $2.75 and $3.50 a week. $2.75, $3.50 and $4.50 correspond to £28 '12, £36 '8 and £46 '16. [I think ' is the old symbol for shillings] That means Jane Eyre's wages of £30 a year as governess, and Mary Garth's offer of £35 a year as school teacher were realistic.
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