Money was ridiculously complicated in Regency times.

Briefly…

2 farthings in a halfpenny.
2 halfpence in a penny (copper).
2 pence in a half-groat.
3 pence in a thruppence.
4 pence in a groat.
6 pence in a sixpence (tanner).
12 pence in a shilling (bob).
2 shillings in a florin.
2.5 shillings (2 shillings and sixpence) in a half-crown.
5 shillings in a crown.
20 shillings in a pound (quid).
…and 21 shillings in a guinea.

Pounds were denoted by the £ -sign. Shillings were denoted by “s”. Pence were denoted by “d”. Guineas were denoted by “g”.

An amount of money was notated in £, s, and d. For example, £3 6s. 9d. would be read as three pounds, six shillings and nine pence.

(And Britain thought that switching to decimalized currency would be too complicated and inconvenient!)

An income of approximately £20 per annum would equate to today’s minimum wage; about $15,000 per annum in American money, and (at current conversion rates) £10,700 per annum in the United Kingdom. A maidservant, for example, earned £16 per annum, and a private soldier around £23. Industrial workers were far worse off with barely half that; they were lucky if they got £10 a year.

In order to be counted as middle-class you needed at least £100 a year, with an additional £100 for a spouse, and £50 for each child. Otherwise, you would not even be able to have a single servant! You were expected to have either a fortune in the bank and live off the interest, or make money from the proceeds from whatever farming or industry took place on the lands that you owned as a member of the “landed gentry”. You could not actually work for a living as a middle-class woman at all, and as a man you could only respectably work in one of a very select few occupations: law, medicine, the clergy, a commissioned officer in the army or the navy.

Being a merchant or tradesman was out of the question; they were held in contempt by Society.

As far as those respectable occupations outlined above, in the law(as a barrister/solicitor) a gentleman could make £400 per annum. As a physician, approximately £200 per annum. A clergyman (a vicar, say) with a decent living might make between £200 and £700 a year.

A commissioned officer made a varying amount, depending on his rank. By way of example, however, a half-pay lieutenant in the Navy made about £100 a year (active service was about £50 more or thereabouts). An Army or militia lieutenant in the infantry made about £85 a year.

For comparison, a successful tradesman – a tailor, a grocer, or other merchant or artisan - might make £100 per annum. (Yes, a low-ranked officer made less than the average tradesman, but at least he was a gentleman.)

For daily use, here are some sample expenses:

A penny could buy you a loaf of bread, and threepence a meal at an inn with meat, broth, and beer.

Cotton enough to make a dress was six shillings. Silk was 26 shillings for enough to make a dress (and note that this is only the fabric, not including the trim or the tailoring). A lady’s fan cost 5 shillings, and a handkerchief could cost six shillings.

The plainest pair of shoes cost at least six shillings! Good solid boots might be a pound or two.

So how rich is Mr Darcy, with his £10,000 a year?

Considering that the average tradesman made £100 per annum, which might be equated to modern-day $75,000 or so (£53,500), Darcy is making 100 times as much! This means a modern income of $7,500,000 – yes, seven and a half MILLION. (Or £5,350,000.)