Cost and standard of living -- England -- London; London (England) -- Economic conditions; Working class -- England -- London
s. d.
20 loaves 4 2
Meat 2 10½
2 tins of milk 0 6
Sugar 0 4
Margarine 1 0
Potatoes 0 9
Tea 0 8
Fish 0 4½
Vegetables 0 6
Pepper, salt 0 1
Jam 0 3
------
11 6
Average per head for food all round the family, 1s. 3¾d. a week, or 2¼d.
a day. Putting the father’s 3s. 6d. on one side, the mother and children
average 1s. 1¾d. a week, or nearly 2d. a day.
To take now groups of men in the same trade without giving the budget of
each in detail will give a more general idea. Eight carmen form the first
group. Their wages are extraordinarily dissimilar. They, at the time
their budgets passed into the hands of the investigation, were working
for private firms, for L.C.C. contractors, and Post-Office contractors
on every kind of terms. Paid by the day or by the week, they were on
night work or day work, driving one horse or two, continuously at work,
or with long stretches of waiting in a yard with no shelter. One Postal
van driver, who was a night worker, drove all Derby Day in between two
of his nights, and got 1s. 6d. overtime for it. The case of the carman
in a big West End private firm who got two days a week has been already
mentioned.
The cases are as follows:
1. Wage, 26s. Allowance, 23s. 6d. 6 children; none dead.
Rent, 5s. 6d.—2 tiny rooms. Clothing as wanted. No burial
insurance.
Average left for food on 6 weeks’ full pay—14s. 5d., or 1s.
9½d. per head a week, 3d. a day: man, 3s. 6d.; mother and
children, 1s. 6¾d. a week, or 2¾d. a day.
The week that 4s. had to be spent on new boots these figures
became for mother and children 11¾d. a week, or 1¾d. a day.
2. Wage, 25s. Allowance, 21s.; girl’s wage, 4s.; total, 25s. 7 children
alive, 1 dead, 1 away.
Rent, 7s.—2 rooms. Clothing as wanted. No burial insurance.
Average left for food, 12s. 4½d., or 1s. 6½d. per head a week:
man, 3s. 6d.; mother and children, 1s. 3¼d. a week, or 2-5/7d.
a day.
3. Wage, 24s. Allowance, 22s. 3 children alive, 1 dead.
Rent for 3 rooms, 7s. Clothing, 6d. Burial insurance, 8d.
Left for food, 9s. 4d., or 1s. 10½d. per head a week, 3¼d. a
day: man, 3s. 6d. a week; mother and children, 1s. 5½d. a week,
or 2½d. a day.
4. Wage, 24s. 9d. Allowance, 24s. 4 children alive, 1 dead.
Rent, 8s. Clothing, 2s. 2d. Burial insurance, 10d.
Average left for food, 10s. 2¾d., or 1s. 8½d. per head a week,
or almost 3d. a day: man, 3s. 6d.; mother and children nearly
1s. 4d. a week, or 2¼d. a day.
5. Wage, 20s. Allowance, 19s. 4 children; none dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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