On February 15, 1971, variously known as Decimal Day, Decimalisation Day and D-Day, the United Kingdom and Ireland decimalised their historical currencies. Although both currencies were separate — Irish Pounds and British Pounds — they were at the time tied to each other at a fixed 1–1 exchange rate. For silver pennies produced after 1820 see Maundy money The silver penny was introduced to England around the year 785 by King Offa of Mercia, in the English midlands. ... The Early Norman kings Following the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror continued the Anglo-Saxon coinage system. ... The Plantagenets (1154–1485) King Henry II ascended the throne in 1154 as the first of the Plantagenet dynasty. ... The Tudors (1485–1603) Henry Tudor, who reigned as King Henry VII between 1485 and 1509, had a rather tenuous claim on the throne, being the Lancastrian claimant via an illegitimate descendant of Edward III when all the more senior candidates had been killed off in the Wars of the... The Stuarts and the Commonwealth (1603–1714) The Early Stuarts When Elizabeth died unmarried and childless in 1603, the throne passed to James VI of Scotland, a great-grandson of Henry VII, who ruled in England as James I. Jamess silver coinage changed little from that of Elizabeth in... The Hanoverians (1714–1837) The change in dynasty did not affect the form of the design of the silver penny — a 12mm diameter coin weighing 0. ... The Twentieth Century Penny (1901–1970) The penny of King Edward VII (1901–1910) is of the same technical standards as the late Victorian issues. ... The British decimal Penny (1p) coin was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised; see Decimal Day. ... February 15 is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1971 is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... Decimalization refers to any process of converting from traditional units, usually of money, to a decimal system. ... The Irish pound (Irish: punt) was the currency unit of the Republic of Ireland until 1999. ... The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ...

Under the old currency of pounds, shillings, and pence, the pound was made up of 240 "old pence" (denoted by the symbol d), or 20 shillings (denoted by the symbol s). Under the new system, the shilling was formally eliminated, and the pound was divided into 100 "new pence", denoted by the symbol p. New, different coinage was issued alongside the old coins, which still remained legal tender at their old value, with one old penny being worth 1/240 of a pound, and a shilling worth 1/20 of a pound. To ease the transition, the 1s and 2s coins were replaced by 5p and 10p coins (i.e. the same value) with the same size and composition. As a unit of currency, the term pound originates from the value of a Troy pound weight (Latin libra), of high purity silver, and is the currency unit of a number of countries: Cyprus pound in Cyprus Egyptian pound in Egypt Falkland Islands pound in the Falkland Islands Gibraltar pound... The shilling was a British coin first issued in 1548 for Henry VIII, although arguably the testoon issued about 1487 for Henry VII was the first shilling. ... Above: A variety of coins considered to be lower-value, including an Irish 2p piece and many US pennies. ...

For details of the currency before decimalisation, see Pre-decimal British coinage and Irish pre-decimal system. This article concerns British coinage, the coinage of the United Kingdom. ... The Irish pound (Irish: punt) was the currency unit of the Republic of Ireland until 1999. ...

Interestingly, in the special case of Maundy money the face value of these coins was maintained, effectively increasing all Maundy coins' value by a factor of 2.4, as the coins continue to be legal tender as new pence. Maundy Money is a special British coinage given to deserving poor people in a religious ceremony performed by Anglicans on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter. ... Legal tender is payment that cannot be refused in settlement of a debt. ...

The changeover was expected to take several months, but shopkeepers found that they couldn't accommodate both the old and new coins in their tills. Instead they quickly withdrew most of the old coins from circulation, and lodged them in the bank, so the new system was largely effective within a matter of weeks. (The 1s and 2s coins remained in circulation alongside their 5p and 10p twins for many years afterward, until smaller 5p and 10p coins replaced the old in the 1990s.) A public information campaign which had run over the preceding two years, and the willingness of a young population to embrace the change also helped. In general, elderly people had more difficulty adapting and the phrase 'How much is that in old money?' became a metaphor for someone who couldn't make the change to other new systems, for example the metric system of weights which was adopted many years later. The International System of Units (symbol: SI) (for the French phrase Syst me International dUnit s) is the most widely used system of units. ...

Background

Following the rejection by parliament of Lord Wrottesley's proposals to decimalise Sterling in 1824 (which were prompted by the introduction in 1795 of the decimal French Franc), little practical progress towards decimalisation was made for over a century, with the exception of the two-shilling silver florin (worth 1/10 of a pound) first issued in 1849. 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Though abolished as a legal coin by Louis XIII in 1641 in favor of the gold louis or ecu, the term franc continued to be used in common parlance for the livre tournois. ... The nineteenth and twentieth century Florin or Two Shillings coin should not be confused with the medieval gold Florin, which was worth six shillings. ... 1849 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

The Decimal Association was founded in 1841 to promote decimalisation and metrication, causes that were both boosted by a realisation of the importance of international trade following the 1851 Great Exhibition. It was as a result of the growing interest in decimalisation that the florin was issued. Events January 23 - The flip of a coin determines whether a new city in Oregon is named after Boston, Massachusetts, or Portland, Maine, with Portland winning. ... The Great Exhibition was an international exhibition held in Hyde Park London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851 and the first in a series of Worlds Fair exhibitions of culture and industry that were to be a popular 19th century feature. ...

In their preliminary report, the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1856–1857) considered the benefits and problems of decimalisation, but did not draw any conclusion about the adoption of any such scheme [1] (http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref4003.html). A final report in 1859 from the two remaining commissioners, Lord Overstone and Governor of the Bank of England John Hubbard came out against the idea [2] (http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref4004.html). In countries that are members of the Commonwealth a Royal Commission is a major government inquiry into an issue. ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom, sometimes known as The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street or The Old Lady. The Bank of England Functions of the bank It performs all the recognized functions of a central bank -- to maintain price stability, and subject to...

In 1862, the Select Committee on Weights and Measures favoured the introduction of decimalisation to accompany the introduction of metric weights and measures [3] (http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/pdf1/met1862.pdf). 1862 - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... A Select Committee of the British Parliament is a committee made up of a small number of members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues. ...

The Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage (1918–1920), chaired by Lord Emmott, reported in 1920 that the only feasible scheme was to divide the pound into 1000 mills (the pound and mill system), first proposed in 1824, but that this would be too inconvenient. A minority of four members disagreed, saying that the disruption would be worthwhile. A further three members recommended that the Pound should be replaced by the Royal, consisting of 100 halfpennies (i.e. there would be 4.8 Royals to the former Pound) [4] (http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref7833.html). 1918 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... The mill (₥) is an abstract unit of U.S. currency, equivalent to 1/1000 of a U.S. dollar. ... 1824 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... This article discusses the history of the English and British Halfpenny coin, from the 12th century onwards. ...

Finally, in 1960, a report prepared jointly by the British Association for the Advancement of Science and the Association of British Chamber of Commerce, followed by the success of decimalisation in South Africa, prompted the Government to set up the Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency (Halsbury Committee) in 1961, which reported in 1963. The adoption of the changes suggested in the report was announced on March 1, 1966. The Decimal Currency Board (DCB) was created to manage the transition, although the plans were not approved by Parliament until the Decimal Currency Act in July 1967. 1960 was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... The British Association or the British Association for the Advancement of Science or the BA is a learned society with the object of promoting science, directing general attention to scientific matters, and facilitating intercourse between scientific workers. ... 1961 (As MAD Magazine pointed out on its first cover for the year) was the first upside-down year—i. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1966 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... The debating chamber or hemicycle of the European Parliament in Brussels. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Consideration was given to having a new "decimal pound" worth ten shillings in the old currency which would have resulted in the "decimal penny" being worth only slightly more than the old penny; in the event, it was decided by Halsbury that the pound sterling's importance as a reserve currency meant that the pound should remain unchanged. The pound sterling, which strictly speaking refers to basic currency unit of sterling, now the pound, can generally refer to the currency of the United Kingdom (UK). ... A reserve currency is a currency which is held in significant quantities by other governments and institutions as part of their foreign exchange reserves. ...

One old British penny

One new British penny

One new Irish penny

1964 British 1d coin, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1964 British 1d coin, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Twentieth Century Penny (1901–1970) The penny of King Edward VII (1901–1910) is of the same technical standards as the late Victorian issues. ... 1980 British coin 1p, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1980 British coin 1p, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The British decimal Penny (1p) coin was issued on 15 February 1971, the day the British currency was decimalised; see Decimal Day. ... 1980 Irish coin 1p, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1980 Irish coin 1p, from World Coin Gallery File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Irish pound (Irish: punt) was the currency unit of the Republic of Ireland until 1999. ...

See also

• Decimalization
• British coinage
• British banknotes
• Irish coinage
• UK topics
• Metrication

Decimalization refers to any process of converting from traditional units, usually of money, to a decimal system. ... This article concerns British coinage, the coinage of the United Kingdom. ... British banknotes are the banknotes of the United Kingdom and British Islands, denominated in pounds sterling (GBP). ... This version of the harp, on a 1990 Irish pound, has been on Irish coinage circulated from 1939 until 2000. ... Shortcut: UK topics This is a list of topics related to the United Kingdom. ... Metrication, or metrification, is the process of converting from the various other systems of units used throughout the world (especially the Imperial or American systems, originating in the United Kingdom) to the metric or SI (Système International) system. ...

External links

• Committee of the Inquiry on Decimal Currency: report (http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref10024.html)