Decimal (1971-Now)

On February 15, 1971, variously known as Decimal Day, Decimalisation Day and D-Day, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland decimalised their currencies. more...

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The old system

The United Kingdom and Ireland had separate currencies — Pound sterling and Irish pound (also know as Irish punt) respectively — but they were at the time tied to each other at a fixed 1:1 exchange rate. Under the old currency of pounds, shillings, and pence, the pound was made up of 240 "old pence" (denoted by the symbol d), with twelve old pence in a shilling and 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s) in a pound. However, the number of pence in a shilling and shillings in a pound made monetary calculations complicated. Foreign tourists were also confused by coins such as the 'half-crown' (worth 2/6, or one eighth of a pound).

For further details of the currency before decimalisation, see British pre-decimal system and Irish pre-decimal system.

Background to the UK changeover

Following the rejection by parliament of Lord Wrottesley's proposals to decimalise Sterling in 1824 (which were prompted by the introduction in 1795 of the decimal French Franc), little practical progress towards decimalisation was made for over a century, with the exception of the two-shilling silver florin (worth 1/10 of a pound) first issued in 1849. A double florin or four shilling piece was a further step in that direction, but failed to gain acceptance.

The Decimal Association was founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication, causes that were both boosted by a realisation of the importance of international trade following the 1851 Great Exhibition. It was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued.

In their preliminary report, the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1856–1857) considered the benefits and problems of decimalisation, but did not draw any conclusion about the adoption of any such scheme . A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England John Hubbard came out against the idea, claiming it had "few merits" .

In 1862, the Select Committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures .

The decimalisation movement even entered fiction. In Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels (and more so in the television series based on them), Plantagenet Palliser is a passionate advocate of decimalisation, a cause the other characters seem to find intensely boring. Palliser's scheme would have divided the shilling into ten (presumably revalued) pennies. This would have changed the threepence into 2.5 new pence, the sixpence into fivepence, and the half crown into a two shilling, five pence piece. It would also have required the withdrawal and reissuance of the existing copper coinage. It is never made clear if Palliser is able to implement this scheme.

Read more at Wikipedia.org