Amusing coincidence

[Just Gillian]

The unbroken spell of good weather has meant that summer pleasures and garden jobs have taken priority over my tree lately, so I was having a catch up last night on the Family History News and Information forum.

I spotted Kite's posts about the new Irish petty session court records and Irish Dog Licence Registers on FMP (thanks Kite!) and went off to have a look, starting with the court records.

I found my gt grandmother immediately. Her offence? Keeping a dog without a licence!:d

The fine - 1/- plus 1/6 costs or 7 days in prison on default - seemed pretty steep, on a par with the fines for drunken assaults (not hers) which filled most of the rest of the page, but I haven't managed to find out yet via google what the average weekly wage would have been.

[kiterunner]

:d:d:d

[JBee]

I found OH's grandfather had been fined 10/6 in 1899 - he was an apprentice mason caught with a fishing rod near a river by the river baliffs and refused to give his name. He apparently shoved one of the men which aggrevated the offence lol.

Can't think how much he would have been earning and there didn't seem to be an alternative punishment ie days in jail etc.

[Just Gillian]

That's a severe punishment Julie! The highest I've come across in Westmeath so far is 5/- in 1900 for a man who was too far from his ass and cart!

I keep meaning to relocate a site which used to be in my bookmarks giving average basic wage figures and average food costs over the last couple of centuries.

My only gauge is the 25s wage for my first Saturday job, in BHS, in the late 60s. I bought my mother an umbrella for her birthday with my first wage packet - it cost 17/6.

Nowadays, 10/6 would buy half a loaf of (non-artisan) bread or half an umbrella from Poundland!

[Olde Crone]

I hope Glen Tinsel Knickers won't mind me telling you that in a search for his ancestor, who was a high class furniture retailer, we found a newspaper report of the ancestor.....charged with stealing a wardrobe, hahaha.

OC

[Michael]

Nowadays, 10/6 would buy half a loaf of (non-artisan) bread or half an umbrella from Poundland!

If it's supermarket cheap range, you can get a whole loaf for under 10s :)