1920 and Today

1920 and Today

After watching Downton Abby I began to wonder how much money servants were paid in 1920 in Britain as well as how much things cost.

The butler who ran the house made the most money.  About $4,300 to $6,400 per year and that included room and board.  Today a butler receives somewhere between $80,000 and $105,000.  A maid today makes between $15,361 to $42,819 compared to the lowly wage they received in 1920.  Most weekly housecleaners get at least $100 per job and that’s generally for about two hours of work.  This means that they are making more money per hour than I am and I FILE paper!

Interesting note about footmen.  The first footman earned about $3,300 BUT

many footman’s salaries were based on how tall they were rather than how well they did their work.  The taller and more impressive they were the more they received.

I don’t know since I wasn’t around in 1920 but I assume that working in a house had to be better than working in a factory.  A factory worker made about $6.00 a week or $312.00 a year and the working conditions were deplorable.  Today, the average factory worker makes between $20,000 and $40,000 a year and working conditions have improved immensel.

Since the servants had room and board what did they have to spend their money on?  Clothes and toiletries I assume.  I checked on some clothes’ prices from 1920 and it looks like you could get most everything for less than $25.00.  A silk crepe dress was $14.95, a dress up frock was $15.49 and a coat was $23.98.  Of course I realize that $25.00 dollars (and however many pounds that was in England) was a lot of money to somebody who worked below the stairs.  A flapper hat from Sears cost about $1.98. I'm not even going to bore you with the price of clothes today - you know what and how high they are.

To help you the next time you hear someone talking about a guinea it was one pound and one shilling (or ₤1.05 in today’s money).

Remember the servants were given their uniforms so it is possible that they only needed a church outfit and shoes as they wore out. Magazines cost about ten cents and books ranged from 25¢ to 50¢.  For about a dollar you could get the morocco bound (leather) books which most of us would love to own today.  Kindle books are generally around $9.99 but hardbacks (which I no longer buy) are generally in the $20 something area.

So let’s be thankful that today we have many job options available to us.  One of the richest businessman in the world makes $19 billon a year!  Now upon reading that it made my salary seem so 1920-ish!

Today's drink is Irish Coffee and apparently there is no food worth celebrating today, so make it a please yourself kind of day!

Happy Friday.

P