Army Pensions for Regular Soldiers

[bif]

JMB,   Ain't that the truth !  

[bif]

On 08/09/2021 at 11:36, Terry_Reeves said:

subscription fee

 

On 09/09/2021 at 04:10, Ron Clifton said:

half a crown.

 

On 08/09/2021 at 12:09, FROGSMILE said:

Two shillings and sixpence

If I did my sums correctly, that'll be 30p ?

[FROGSMILE]

Perhaps with inflation Bif.  At the time of the change it would have been something a little over 12 and a half pence.

Edited 12 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[Terry_Reeves]

I can give Bif a loan. There will be interest to pay of course.

TR

 

[Alan24]

28 minutes ago, bif said:

If I did my sums correctly, that'll be 30p ?

No Bif, your sums are not correct!

30d (old pence) but only 12.5p (new pence) as noted by Frogsmile.

240d = £1

100p = £1

[bif]

Alan,     Please note I did say pre-decimalization ?  You lot must've gone bonkers back at the change.  I'm just surprised I even get close.  BTW, can anyone tell me if those are "old" or "new" coins ??? 

Edited 12 September , 2021 by bif

[bif]

44 minutes ago, Terry_Reeves said:

I can give Bif a loan

Thanks Terry.  I may need one having retired officially back on 27 August !  

[bif]

55 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

Perhaps with inflation

FS,    I am more confused then ever.  Which is the correct CURRENT amt, so I know what to send in for my subscription ?  

[Terry_Reeves]

Don’t worry about inflation - that is for life jackets.

TR

 

[FROGSMILE]

9 hours ago, bif said:

FS,    I am more confused then ever.  Which is the correct CURRENT amt, so I know what to send in for my subscription ?  

You can have a discount Bif and pay the pre-1971 rate.

Edited 13 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE

[Alan24]

8 hours ago, bif said:

  BTW, can anyone tell me if those are "old" or "new" coins ??? 

Bif, those are new coins. Anything dated 1968 or after will be new coinage, although decimalisation did not happen until 15 Feb 1971.

[bif]

Alan,   Thanks.  Somretime this "stuff" gets really confusing, like watching a baseball game in French ?

PS

Doing the insomniac thing

at 01:00, now that I am retired.

 

 

[ilkley remembers]

On 10/09/2021 at 16:39, FROGSMILE said:

It was a time largely forgotten now when every mouth that needed to be fed was encouraged to work from a very young age in order to make a contribution to the kitchen table.  Girls usually went into service or assisted mother with sewing or laundry and boys largely undertook manual labour or, if they were lucky, secured an apprenticeship.  Everyone who was able bodied had to pay in their share to the family budget once their age got into double digits.

 

A reasonable position to take with regard to poverty in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. However, I would add that the prevailing social and to some degree political orthodoxy was that poverty was an almost irredeemable condition. Indeed it was argued at the time that poverty was essential to the functioning of the industrial state as it made the poor more industrious and productive. Children could and did enter the workplace as young as 12 years old in 1900 and acted as a large reservoir of cheap labour.

 

Whilst this thread may not on the face of it have relevance to WW1 it is interesting how the army pension system was forced to change in 1914 as it dealt with heavy losses on the Western Front. The navy and the army entered the war still relying on a pension system which was a legacy of Victorian era conflict. The widows and dependants of regular soldiers who died in service did not have an automatic right to a pension since this only applied to ‘on strength’ wives ie those whose husband had received permission to marry. Many widows were forced to seek charitable handouts from bodies like the Patriot Fund and Soldiers, Sailors Family Association as well as relying on relief administered by the Poor Law Unions. It was largely through the intervention of MPs like Labour politician Arthur Henderson that change to the system was wrung out of the Government.

 

IR

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, ilkley remembers said:

 

A reasonable position to take with regard to poverty in Victorian and Edwardian Britain. However, I would add that the prevailing social and to some degree political orthodoxy was that poverty was an almost irredeemable condition. Indeed it was argued at the time that poverty was essential to the functioning of the industrial state as it made the poor more industrious and productive. Children could and did enter the workplace as young as 12 years old in 1900 and acted as a large reservoir of cheap labour.

 

Whilst this thread may not on the face of it have relevance to WW1 it is interesting how the army pension system was forced to change in 1914 as it dealt with heavy losses on the Western Front. The navy and the army entered the war still relying on a pension system which was a legacy of Victorian era conflict. The widows and dependants of regular soldiers who died in service did not have an automatic right to a pension since this only applied to ‘on strength’ wives ie those whose husband had received permission to marry. Many widows were forced to seek charitable handouts from bodies like the Patriot Fund and Soldiers, Sailors Family Association as well as relying on relief administered by the Poor Law Unions. It was largely through the intervention of MPs like Labour politician Arthur Henderson that change to the system was wrung out of the Government.

 

IR

Yes, IR, I totally agree with all that you’ve outlined and am aware of how things improved as a result of social and political pressure in WW1.  My comments that you quoted were indeed “Victorian/Edwardian” oriented, as they were specifically in response to the query made by fremlin in this thread’s opening post, vide: 

“He retired from….. the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment - as a Colour Sergeant on 12.10.1891 (I still have the inscribed watch presented to him by members of the Sergeants Mess).”

“He appears in documents such as the 1901 census as an "ArmyPensioner". My question relates to the level of pension he would have received: would it have kept him and his family of 11 childrenfrom his discharge in 1891 to his early death in 1902 (aged only48)?“

Ergo, the inquiry was about the prevailing situation between 1891 and 1902. 

Edited 13 September , 2021 by FROGSMILE