First world problems of 1919

[Dr Jekyll]

https://fullstackeconomics.com/why-agatha-christie...

Servant and full time childcare, no problem. Cars, far too expensive.

[coppernorks]

The millions dead in the war, the millions to die in the upcoming flu epidemic, but worse,
much, much worse, was the news that Chaplin had not stopped making his funny films.

[alfaspecial]

Interesting article.

Back in the late 1970's my dad bought a antique bookcase - not (really) realising it came with half a dozen packing crates of books.
I still have the leather bound Strand Magazines - original publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
amongst the books was a 'Country Life' magazine from 1919

For £700 you could buy a pretty substantial, detached country house.
For £3500 you could buy a smallish stately pile c/w 2 or 3 farms, possibly a dozen cottages in total




Further reading: https://www.countryliving.com/life/g33398396/what-...

[Earthdweller]

alfaspecial said:

Interesting article.

Back in the late 1970's my dad bought a antique bookcase - not (really) realising it came with half a dozen packing crates of books.
I still have the leather bound Strand Magazines - original publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
amongst the books was a 'Country Life' magazine from 1919

For £700 you could buy a pretty substantial, detached country house.
For £3500 you could buy a smallish stately pile c/w 2 or 3 farms, possibly a dozen cottages in total




Further reading: https://www.countryliving.com/life/g33398396/what-...

£700 would be around £200k today and with wages at the time would have been just as if not more unaffordable for the working man than today which would have been between 30-60 shillings a week £1.50-£3)

[austinsmirk]

And forget mortgages and borrowing. That’s why most people were in rented owned by the minority.

The start of building social housing changed all that. To some degree, along with the creation of the nhs it was to give the nation a fitter and more war ready population.

In ww1: 1/3 of all men were rejected on health grounds until of course they just needed them for cannon fodder.

Plus average height of men was what: 5.1” or something? Due to malnutrition

Hence why officers stood head and shoulders above the rest: diet.

[JagLover]

austinsmirk said:

And forget mortgages and borrowing. That’s why most people were in rented owned by the minority.

The start of building social housing changed all that. To some degree, along with the creation of the nhs it was to give the nation a fitter and more war ready population.

In ww1: 1/3 of all men were rejected on health grounds until of course they just needed them for cannon fodder.

Plus average height of men was what: 5.1” or something? Due to malnutrition

Hence why officers stood head and shoulders above the rest: diet.

Not quite

Average height was just shy of 170cm or 5"7 for those born 1896-1920 (and so prime age for WW1) and had actually improved significantly since 1870.

As for renting versus owning. House prices did not really take off until later so owning a home wasn't the one way bet it became later. You could also achieve a stable return on investments and without inflation to continually erode the value. So holding money in bonds say rather than housing could make sense. Hence no doubt likely why a middle class family was renting rather than buying.

[Dr Jekyll]

Earthdweller said:

alfaspecial said:

Interesting article.

Back in the late 1970's my dad bought a antique bookcase - not (really) realising it came with half a dozen packing crates of books.
I still have the leather bound Strand Magazines - original publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
amongst the books was a 'Country Life' magazine from 1919

For £700 you could buy a pretty substantial, detached country house.
For £3500 you could buy a smallish stately pile c/w 2 or 3 farms, possibly a dozen cottages in total


Further reading: https://www.countryliving.com/life/g33398396/what-...

£700 would be around £200k today and with wages at the time would have been just as if not more unaffordable for the working man than today which would have been between 30-60 shillings a week £1.50-£3)

According to the measuring worth website, £700 in 1919 would be about £33,000 in purchasing power or £180,000 in terms of average income, £3500 would be around £165,000 or £900,000.

Comparing income is tricky though. In 1919 most work was unskilled, so the rise in average incomes is partly due to the changing pattern of work. It would be interesting to see how incomes for specific jobs have changed.

[AJL308]

alfaspecial said:

Interesting article.

Back in the late 1970's my dad bought a antique bookcase - not (really) realising it came with half a dozen packing crates of books.
I still have the leather bound Strand Magazines - original publication of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
amongst the books was a 'Country Life' magazine from 1919

For £700 you could buy a pretty substantial, detached country house.
For £3500 you could buy a smallish stately pile c/w 2 or 3 farms, possibly a dozen cottages in total




Further reading: https://www.countryliving.com/life/g33398396/what-...

That's an interesting article. In the tradition of being a sad internet pedant, though, no 9 is wrong;

https://www.countryliving.com/life/g33398396/what-...

Records for consumer use weren't pressed on vinyl back then. It was shellac. Vinyl didn't come into use for records until the 12" LP came in around the mid to late 1940's, as far as I'm aware.

[vaud]

Flu was pretty bad...

1917
United States enters World War I. U.S. life expectancy is 54 years of age for women and 48 years of age for men.

1918
Spring and fall waves of influenza (”flu”) activity cause the average life expectancy in the United States to fall by 12 years

1919
Third wave of pandemic flu activity occurs. Pandemic subsides, but virus (H1N1) continues to circulate seasonally for 38 years.

[anonymous-user]

Looks like a 99% reduction in the cost of a television since 1993 from your article. I knew they'd become a lot cheaper, didn't know it was such a massive drop. They'll have to pay people to have one soon.

[FourWheelDrift]

coppernorks said:

The millions dead in the war, the millions to die in the upcoming flu epidemic, but worse,
much, much worse, was the news that Chaplin had not stopped making his funny films.

Bob, take a telegram. "To Mr. C. Chaplin, Sennet Studios, Hollywood, California. Congrats stop. Have found only person in world less funny than you stop. Name: Baldrick stop. Signed, E. Blackadder stop". Oh, and put a P.S.: "Please, please, please... stop."

[AJL308]

FourWheelDrift said:

coppernorks said:

The millions dead in the war, the millions to die in the upcoming flu epidemic, but worse,
much, much worse, was the news that Chaplin had not stopped making his funny films.

Bob, take a telegram. "To Mr. C. Chaplin, Sennet Studios, Hollywood, California. Congrats stop. Have found only person in world less funny than you stop. Name: Baldrick stop. Signed, E. Blackadder stop". Oh, and put a P.S.: "Please, please, please... stop."

"

"Nightly screenings of my films in trenches excellent idea. Stop. Must insist that E Blackadder be projectionist. Stop.

P.S......don't let him ever. Stop"

Absolutly classic series.