Pounds (£), shillings (s) and pence (p) made up the basics of British currency in the Regency period. Traditionally, money was issued in coins however there were bank notes in use, issued by various banks. Bank notes were pre-printed like modern day money however each one was filled in by hand upon issuance with the date, name of the payee and the cashier’s signature.

4 farthings = one penny

12 pence = one shilling

Ten shillings and sixpence (“ten and six”) = half a guinea

Twenty one shillings = one guinea

Copper/Bronze Coins

1/8 d                half farthing

¼ d                  farthing

½ d                  half penny                     “ha’pence”, “hap’ney”

Silver Coins

1 d                   penny                           “copper”

2 d                   twopence                     “tuppence”

3 d                   threepence                   “thruppence”

4 d                   groat

6 d                   sixpence                       “tanner”

12 d                 shilling                          “bob”

2 s                    florin

2 ½ s                half crown                    “half a crown”

5 s                    crown                          “bull”

Gold Coins

10 s                  half sovereign               “ten bob”

20 s                  sovereign                     “quid”

21 s                  guinea

Paper Notes

½£                   1/2 pound

1£                    1 pound note                “quid”

5£                    5 pound note                “fiver”

10£                  10 pound note              “tenner”

20£                  20 pound note

100£                100 pound note

200£                200 pound note

1,000£             1,000 pound note

Want to know what it’s worth today?  The following website will convert the value of a British pound from as far back as 1830 to the current day value in US dollars.

Measuring Worth.com

As a reader and writer of historical fiction, it’s important to know how people described their animals and how far they could expect to travel on them. It wouldn’t do to make it halfway across England in an hour if it would have taken a week!

• Mare – Female horse
• Stallion – Uncastrated male horse
• Gelding – Castrated male horse
• Foal – Newly born horse until 3 years old
  • Filly foal – female
  • Colt foal – male
  • Yearling – a newborn in the year after it’s birth
• Body – refers to the overall color of the horse’s coat
• Points – refers to the ears, hocks and knees, dock and flack, may differ in color from the coat
• Stockings – white leg markings on the foot up to the knee or hock

Base Coat Colors:

• Black – All black in color
• Brown – All brown in color; seal brown or chocolate tones without red
• Bay – Red brown in color; always have black points
  Common variants: Cherry Bay, Blood Bay, Mahogany Bay, Maroon Bay, Dark Bay
• Chestnut – All red brown in color, including the point

  Other Colors:

• Dun – Light yellow, red or brown coats(washed or sandy in appearance), typically with black points; may also have black ‘primitive’ marks like a dorsal stripe down the spine or zebra-like stripes on legs.
  • Grullo – Slate-blue body with black points
  • Buckskin – Tan or yellowish body with black points
  • Claybank – Pale dun body without dark points
  • Red dun – Reddish yellow body with red points
• Palomino – A golden coat with blonde main and tail
  • Isabella – similar to the Palomino but lighter in color, like cream
• Mixed
  • Roan – Mixed color and white hairs on the body that don’t change with age
    • Blue Roan – Black and white with a blue tinge
    • Wine, Red or Strawberry Roan – Red and white
  • Piebald – Irregular patches of black and white color on the body
  • Skewbald – Irregular patches of any other color and white on the body
• Grey – A greying of the coat over another color. Like grey in humans, a horse with this dominant gene will gradually lighten with age.
  • Rose Grey – Bays and chestnuts that grey have a slight pink tinge
  • Steel or Iron Grey – Blacks that grey have a deep grey color
  • Dappled Grey – Dark dapples or patches of the base color show through in the coat; always with silver manes
  • Fleabitten Grey – The coat has tiny black and brown spots on the coat that look like fleabites
  • White Grey – A horse that has completely greyed
• White – Pure white coat with pink skin; usually exists only with older animals
  • Albino – White coat with blue eyes

Height

• Chain – an instrument used to measure height; made of brass or iron links, six feet in length, marked at foot increments with a wire. Hung like a plumb line it was used to determine height in feet and inches. 1770 is most recent noted use of this.
• Hand – the most common form of measurement; a chord, employed in absence of the chain, was measured by the fist (equivalent to 3 inches in 1770; 4 inches in modern use) to determine height. The average horse is 15-16 hands. Ponies are typically less than 14 hands.
• Elbow – Rarely used in place of the hand; one elbow is the equivalent to 1 ½ feet

Distances:  Rules of thumb

• Walk – appx 5 miles per hour
• Trot – appx 8-10 miles per hour
• Canter – appx 15 miles per hour

The faster a horse moves, the less distance they can maintain the speed without suffering harm.. Weather and terrain can also play a significant role in speed and distance it’s possible to cover and the Regency period in England is not known for the best of roads!

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Sources:
Gombaux, Armand and Barrier, Gustave. The Exterior of the Horse. 2nd Edition, 1892. JB Lippincott Company. http://books.google.com/books?id=46tFAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA775&lpg=PA775&dq=isabella+horse+color&source=web&ots=Ga39CLKoJ5&sig=uzXdkd3214BmitzSscVQcB499vw&hl=en#PPR2,M1

Ross, Julia. A Few Frequently Asked Questions About Horses. 2002. http://www.juliaross.net/horsefax.html#Colors
Ultimate Horse Site. Horse Color and Genetics. 2000-2005. http://www.ultimatehorsesite.com/colors/index.html
Wikihow. How to Distinguish Horse Color By Name. http://www.wikihow.com/Distinguish-Horse-Color-by-Name

These coffeehouses were rather like a club house and they soon became a social hub for sharing news and ideas. For just a penny, customers could visit to read the newspapers, socialize, debate and smoke tobacco as they sipped their dish of coffee. In fact, they became so popular a place for men to congregate and debate that Charles II declared them “seminaries of sedition” and shut all three thousand down. And turned right around and reopened them within days due to the public outcry.

So great a Universitie I think there ne’er was any In which you may a scholar be For spending of a Penny.

From News from the Coffee House, a broadside of 1677.

Coffeehouses began to develop a clientele based upon the patron’s who frequented them. Those by St Paul’s Cathedral were favored by the clergy. Will’s Coffee-house and Button’s Coffee-house, each located in Russell Street, Covent Garden, became the favored of literati who were passionate about literature.

Some of the political coffeehouses located near Westminster, like the St James (patronized by Whigs) and the Cocoa-Tree (patronized by Tories) eventually became private clubs, but when they started in the early 17^th century they were open to anyone who paid their penny at the bar.

Some coffeehouses, like Lloyd’s and Garraway’s located by the Royal Exchange, became favored places for businessmen. Auctions for ships and cargoes at Lloyds in the 1700’s led to underwriting for ships and cargoes, and in 1771 patron’s of Lloyd’s formed a society of underwriter’s which became known as Lloyd’s of London.

Not all coffeehouses were focused on politics, trade or intellectual pursuits. Some became the leisure haven of gentlemen looking for the diversion of cards and gaming tables. The famous White’s started out as just such a coffeehouse, called White’s Chocolate House at the time. The transformation occurred when a fire destroyed the building in 1773 and the coffeehouse rebuilt and reopened as White’s Club.

Other coffeehouses followed suit by closing their doors to all but select clientele and the traditional coffeehouse began a decline with only about 1,400 left by the turn of the 19^th century.

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Bibliography

Hale, Deborah. The London Coffeehouse: A Social Institution. http://www.rakehell.com/article.php?id=206

Pelzer, J. and Pelzer, L. The English Coffee Houses. http://waeshael.home.att.net/coffee.htm

Ukers, William H. All About Coffee. The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal, 1922. New York.

reprinted with permission

Originally, the Imperial system of Measurement was based on that used in the Roman Empire, and during that time, all were standardized. After the collapse of the Empire, the definitions of the measurements began to wander a bit until by the 18th C, they were completely different in different countrys and often different in separate regions of the same country.

Such was the situation in France at the time of the Revolution, and it was the need for a new standard that brought about the introduction of the Metric System. Eventually other countries adopted this new standard as well. It should be noted that in the century since its adoption, the length of the meter has been redefined a number of times until a standard that was based on a real figure could be rationalized (I believe it’s currently something like “the distance that light travels in 1.2 x 10^-9 seconds”).

I’ll define the major units first:

• Foot - The length of a man’s foot. A measure of length. From town to town, country to country, this measurement could differ, but as a rule a French Pied was equal to 12.8 English inches, while a Spanish Pie was 10.96 English inches
• Gallon – An English measure of capacity. The imperial gallon contains 27714 cubic inches: the winegallon of 231 cubic inches is the standard in the United States.

• Pound – A measure of weight and mass derived from the ancient Roman libra (which is equal to 327.25 grams), but this ancient standard has been modified variously over the course of time, and in different countries. The pound consisted originally of 12 ounces, corresponding more or less to that of troy weight. This is still used by goldsmiths and jewellers in stating the weight of gold, silver, and precious stones; but as early as the thirteenth or fourteenth century a pound of sixteen ounces was used for more bulky commodities. This was made a standard for general purposes of trade by Edward III, and known as the pound aveir de peis, i.e. of merchandise of weight, now called avoirdupois, q.v. At other times the pound has varied locally from 12 to 27 ounces, according to the commodity, pounds of different weight being often used in the same place for different articles, as bread, butter, cheese, meat, malt, hay, wool, etc.
• Cup -
  1.  A measure of capacity for liquids (also for corn and other dry substances of powdery or granular nature), equal to half a quart or 1/8 of a gallon; of varying content at different times and places.
  2.  A vessel holding a definite quantity (usually four ounces), used to receive the blood in blood-letting.
• Dram – A weight, orig. the ancient Greek drachma; hence, in Apothecaries’ weight, a weight of 60 grains = 1/8 of an ounce; in Avoirdupois weight, of 27.13 grains = 1/16 of an ounce; = drachm
• Ell – From the Latin “Ulna”. A unit of linear measure equal to 45 inches. The word ell seems to have been variously taken to represent the distance from the elbow or from the shoulder to the wrist or to the finger-tips, while in some cases a “double ell” has superseded the original measure, and has taken its name. English ell = 45 in. Scots = 37.2 in. Flemish = 27 in.
• Finger
  1.  (UK and historically) A unit of linear measure equal to the breadth of a finger, or about 3/4 inch.
  2.  (US) A unit of linear measure equal to the length of a finger, or about 4 1/2 inches.
• Furlong – Originally the distance an Ox could pull a plow before needing to rest, ie., “a furrow long”. As early as the 9th c. it was regarded as the equivalent of the Roman stadium, which was 18 of a Roman mile; and hence furlong has always been used as a name for the eighth part of an English mile, whether this coincided with the agricultural measure so called or not. The present statute furlong is 220 yards, and is equal both to the eighth part of a statute mile, and to the side of a square of 10 statute acres.
• Gill -
  1.  A measure for liquids, containing one fourth of a standard pint.
  2.  In many districts the gill is equivalent to a half-pint, the quarter-pint being called a jack.
• Grain – The weight of 1 Barleycorn (or one grain of Barley)
• Hand – A unit of linear measure, formerly taken as equal to three inches, but now to four; a palm, a hand-breadth. Now used only in giving the height of horses and the like.
• Inch – From the Latin “Uncia” (or a twelfth part), an inch is 1/12 Foot. A measure of length. In French, the unit of 1/12 a “foot” is the Pounce. In Spanish, Pulgadas. nb. A 12th of a Pounce is a Ligne, and a 12th of a Pulgadas is a Lignas. English inches are traditionally divided into 12 Lines. English inches are also defined as being the length of “Three good sized barleycorns placed end to end”.
• League – An itinerary measure of distance, varying in different countries, but usually estimated roughly at about 3 miles; app. never in regular use in England, but often occurring in poetical or rhetorical statements of distance. Although the league appears never to have been an English measure, leuca occurs somewhat frequently in Anglo-Latin law-books (Bracton, Fleta, etc.); it is disputed whether in these works it means one mile or two.
• Mark – A denomination of weight formerly employed (chiefly for gold and silver) throughout western Europe; its actual weight varied considerably, but it was usually regarded as equivalent to 8 ounces (= either 23 or 12 of a pound, according to the meaning given to the latter term).
• Mile – Originally, the Roman lineal measure of 1,000 paces (mille passus or passuum), computed to have been about 1,618 yards. Hence, the unit of measure derived from this, used in the British Isles and in other English-speaking countries. Its length has varied considerably at different periods and in different localities, chiefly owing to the influence of the agricultural system of measures with which the mile has been brought into relation (see furlong). The legal mile in Britain and the U.S. is now 1,760 yards (5280 feet). The Irish mile of 2,240 yards is still in rustic use. The obsolete Scottish mile was longer than the English, and probably varied according to time and place; one of the values given for it is 1,976 yards.
• Nail -
  1.  A measure of weight for wool, beef, etc., usually equal to eight pounds =clove
  2.  A measure of land.
  3.  A measure of length for cloth; 2.14 inches, or the 1/16th part of a yard. “The precise origin of this sense is not clear. The use of the nail in early examples suggests that one sixteenth from the end of the yard-stick may have been marked by a nail.” (OED)
• Ounce – From the Latin “Uncia” (or a twelfth part), an ounce is 1/12 Pound (or was originally, and is still in “troy” weight). A measurement of weight.
• Pace – A vague measure of distance with two widely differing definitions:
  1.  Historically, the distance between successive stationary positions of the same foot or two “Steps”, or about 5 feet (60 inches).
  2.  The distance from where one foot is set down to where the other is set down, or about 2 1/2 feet (30 inches).
• Pint – A measure of capacity for liquids (also for corn and other dry substances of powdery or granular nature), equal to 1/2 a quart or 1/8 of a gallon; of varying content at different times and places.
  1.  English. The pint is equal to 34.66 cubic inches.
  2.  (US) The standard pint is that of the old wine measure, equal to 28.78 cubic inches.
  3.  The old Scotch pint was equal to about 3 imperial pints (104.2 cubic inches).
  4.  In local use also a weight, e.g. of butter in East Anglia = 1 1/4lb.
• Pound, Merchantile – (16 “Tower” oz.) is different from the Avoirdepois Pound (of 16 Avoirdepois oz), being a ratio of 36 Mercantile Pounds to 35 Avoirdepois Pounds
• Pound, Tower – (12 “tower” oz.) used as a standard from Ethelred until Henry VIII abolished it in favor of the Troy Pound.
• Quart – An English measure of capacity, one-fourth of a gallon, or two pints
• Sack of Wool – Defined by Edward III to be equal to the weight of 26 times the Big Rock used to measure the “Aveir de peis” weight. That specific rock, or “Stone” weighed (at that time 14 pounds) (n.b., a sack of wool was equal in weight to 1/6th a cartload of lead) or 364 pounds aveir de peis.
• Span – Generally the distance from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, or sometimes to the tip of the forefinger, when the hand is fully extended; the space equivalent to this taken as a measure of length, averaging nine inches.
• Ton, or tun – A unit used in measuring the carrying capacity or burden of a ship, the amount of cargo, freight, etc.
  1.  Originally, the space occupied by a tun cask of wine.
  2.  For the purposes of registered tonnage, the space of 100 cubic feet.
  3.  For purposes of freight, usually the space of 40 cubic feet, unless that bulk would weigh more than 20 cwt., in which case freight is charged by weight. But the expression “ton of cargo” is also used with regard to special packages which are conventionally assumed as going so many packages to the ton.
  4.  20 cu feet of timber.
• Yard -
  1.  A unit of linear measure equal to equal to 3 feet or 36 inches. Also the corresponding measure of area (square yard = 9 square feet) or of solidity (cubic yard = 27 cubic feet). Also called a Verge.
  NOT to be confused with:
  2.  A unit of linear measure equal to 16 1/2 feet or 5 1/2 yards (but varying locally); AKA rod, pole, or perch. Sometimes distinguished as land-yard.
• Weights:
  1 Grain (1/7000th Lb Avoirdupois) =0.0648 grams
  1 Pennyweight (i.e. the weight of one Anglo-Saxon/Carolingian penny) = 1.3 grams
  1 Penny Weight = 1.55 grams
  1 Dram (1/16 Oz Avoirdupois) = 1.77 grams
  1 Dram (1/8 of an ounce Troy) = 3.89 grams
  1 Shilling = 18.67 grams
  1 Ore (Anglo-Danish) = 20.8 grams
  1 Ore (Anglo-Saxon) = 23.3 grams (or 24.88)
  1 “Uncia” = 27.2 grams
  1 Ounce (Avoirdupois) = 28.4 grams
  1 Ounce (Tower) = 29.2 grams
  1 Once (French) = 30.6 grams
  1 Ounce (“Scotch Troy”) = 30.8 grams
  1 Ounce (Troy) = 31.1 grams
  1 “Tron” Ounce (Edinburgh/Scots) = 38.97 grams
  1 Mark (determined from the weight of the Anglo-Saxon penny) =166.4 grams
  1 Mark (Anglo-Saxon?) = 226.8 grams
  1 Mark (French) = 245 grams
  1 Pound (determined from the weight of the Anglo-Saxon penny) =312 grams
  1 Pound (Italian – low end) = 300 grams
  1 Roman Libre (12 Unciae) = 326 grams
  1 Pound (12 Tower Ounces) = 349.9 grams
  1 Pound (Italian – high end) = 350 grams
  1 “Livre de Charlemagne” (12 Onces) = 367.5 grams
  1 Pound (12 Troy Ounces) = 373.25 grams
  1 Pound (16 Avoirdupois Ounces) = 453.6 grams
  1 Pound (Hapsburg? low end) = 459 grams
  1 Pound (Mercantile; 16 Tower Oz.) = 466.6 grams
  1 Pound (Hapsburg? high end) = 469 grams
  1 Livre (French; 16 Onces) = 490 grams
  1 Pound (“Scotch”; 16 “Troy Oz”) = 493.1 grams
  1 Pound (“Dutch”; 16 Troy Ounces) = 497.6 grams
  1 Pound (Modern) = 500 grams
  1 Pound (1/100 Hundredweight) = 508 grams
  1 Pint (East Anglia) =567 grams
  1 “Tron” Pound (Edinburgh/Scots) = 623.5 grams
  1 Mark (English) = 746.6 grams
  1 Clove (7 pounds Avoirdupois) = 3175.2 grams (3.2 kg)
  1 Nail or Clove (8 pounds Avoirdupois) =3628.8 grams (3.6 kg)
  1 Stone (12 Mercantile (listed in 1303)) = 5599.2 grams (5.6 kg)
  1 Stone (14 pounds Avoirdupois) = 6350.4 grams (6.4 kg)
  1 “Quarter” weight = 12700.4 grams (12.7 kg)
  1 Fotmal (72 lbs Avoirdupois) = 32659.2 grams (32.7 kg)
  1 (“Quarter Sack”) = 41277.6 grams (41.3 kg)
  1 “Hundredweight” = 50803.2 grams (50.8 kg)
  1 Sack (???) = 163296 grams (163 kg)
  1 Sack (Wool) = 165110 grams (165 kg)
  1 Ton (2000 lbs Avoirdupois) = 907200 grams (907 kg)
  1 “Cartload of lead” = 979776 grams (980 kg)
  1 “Ton” (2240 lbs Avoirdupois) = 1016064 grams (1016 kg)

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Sources:
Jones, Stacy V. Weights and Measures: An Informal Guide. Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1963.
Woolhouse, Wesley Stoker Barker. Historical, Measures, Weights, Calendars & Moneys of All Nations and an Analysis of the Christian, Hebrew and Muhammadan Calendars (with Tables up to 2000 A.D.). Chicago: Ares Publishers, 1979.
Zupko, Ronald Edward. A Dictionary of English Weights and Measures: From Anglo-Saxon Times to the Nineteenth Century. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1968.
Zupko, Ronald Edward. French Weights and Measures before the Revolution a Dictionary of Provincial and Local Units. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Zupko, Ronald Edward. Italian Weights and Measures from the Middle Ages to the Nineteenth Century Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 145. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1981.
Zupko, Ronald Edward. A Dictionary of Weights and Measures for the British Isles the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 168. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1985.
Zupko, Ronald Edward. Revolution in Measurement Western European Weights and Measures since the Age of Science Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 186. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1990.

The island of Puerto Rico, though, wasn’t uninhabited. The Taino Indians were native to the island and greeted Columbus with warmth and welcome. How were they to know that showing these newcomers the gold nuggets they could collect from their streams was going to unleash their greed?

Initially, the island was named for San Juan Bautista and the city was called Puerto Rico (“rich port”) –only later were the names reversed. In any event, the city became Spain’s most important port and military outpost in the Caribbean, and would remain so for centuries.

In 1508, Spanish colonization of the island began and by 1509 a system of labor was established that equally distributed a fixed number of wage-free indians to each official and colonist. The indians, displeased with this turn of events, in 1511 drowned Diego Salcendo to determine whether or not the Spaniards were truly immortal as they believed. After they successfully proved that the colonists were as mortal as they, the Tainos revolted. The governor, Ponce de Leon, ordered a massacre of some 6,000 natives. Ponce de Leon was replaced by Columbus’ son as governor shortly thereafter and on January 27, 1513 the first African slaves disembarked on the island.

In 1521, the city of San Juan was founded and within nine years, sugar cane became the most important agricultural product of the island. The coconut tree (indigenous to the East Indies not the Caribbean) was introduced to the island in 1542 by either Spanish or Portuguese traders.

Between 1533 and 1540 the first military defense, La Fortaleza (the Fortress) was built to defend the harbor of San Juan. Today, La Fortaleza still serves as the official residence of the governor of Puerto Rico. 

Construction on El Morro, the major military stronghold of the city, began in 1589. An attack, led by Sir Francis Drake in 1595, was repelled but another led by the Earl of Cumberland in 1598 proved successful and the English held the island for months until and outbreak of plague amongst the troops forced them to withdraw.

A 1625 Dutch expedition attacked El Morro and burned the city, so walls were built around San Juan in 1630. The last attempt by the English against Puerto Rico was led by Sir Albercromby in 1797. In 1898, the US bombarded San Juan and successfully liberated the island from centuries of Spanish rule.

For a very detailed listing of what occurred year by year in Puerto Rico (including the dates of many hurricanes that struck), visit the Welcome to Puerto Rico site.

Today, Puerto Rico is a semi-autonomious commonwealth territory of the United States.  Modern day Puerto Rican’s hold a strong claim to this rich heritage; the average Puerto Rican’s is considered a third Spanish, a third Indian and a third African.