NOTE ON
MEASUREMENTS
AND MONEY

As far as possible, I have converted measurements and monetary values to a common scale. Most of the masses given are approximations, converted to a notional ‘ton’, which is a mix of the metric tonne, the short ton and the avoirdupois ton, which may be divided into 20 hundredweights (cwt). With many of the gallon figures, it is unclear as to whether they should be taken as the modern US gallon (the old English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches) or the modern British gallon (the old English corn gallon of 268.8 cubic inches), or even the beer gallon of 282 cubic inches. ‘A pint’s a pound/the whole world round’ say the Americans, even as the British and their Commonwealth once chanted ‘a pint of pure water/weighs a pound and a quarter’.

Faced with the prospect of boring myself, my editor and my readers witless with voluminous conversions based on often unreliable assumptions about what was meant in the first place, I opted for a retreat into vagueness. I hope this vagueness will be appreciated.

For modern financial measures, I have used an indication of the value in American dollars, since most people seem to be able to translate this into their own currency. Many values, though, were in sterling, and I note here that one pound, three shillings and sixpence is generally written £1 3s. 6d. or as 23s. 6d. There are 20 shillings in a pound, and 12 pence in a shilling. Out of the goodness of my heart, I converted the two instances I encountered of guineas.