How many farthings to the pound?
There were 960 farthings to the old British pound. The farthing, a fourth of a penny, (¼d) was withdrawn from circulation in 1960. The penny-farthing bicycle (a very large wheel at the front and a tiny one at the rear) went out of use long before that! The British were the only ones who could fathom out their old currency system, and even then it was hell for math students and bank clerks (I was both), adding up columns of £ s d. There was also the ‘guinea’ worth £1/1/- (1 pound 1 shilling), used for expensive items like race horses and lawyers fees. In the years just prior to decimalisation in 1971, the circulating British coins were the half crown (2s 6d), two shillings or florin, shilling, sixpence (6d), threepence (3d), penny (1d) and halfpenny (½d). The farthing (¼d) had been withdrawn in 1960. However, there were bitter complaints about decimalisation, with accusations of price rises for everything in the shops; people didn’t know what they were spending, there being no exact equ
