Rates of Pay in WW2

Discussion in 'Service Records' started by Ron Goldstein, Aug 23, 2007.

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  1. brispencer

    brispencer Member

    For some reason I seem to remeber that my Dad got 6d a day during the war. When he was repatriated he was paid all back pay minus the amount for his Guards uniform which had been destroyed in a fire in the warehouse where the dress uniforms were kept.
     
  2. gunbunnyB/3/75FA

    gunbunnyB/3/75FA Senior Member

    ok, this is gonna sound silly, i get the shillings/bob/quid/pounds thing,but i cant figure out ,what does the flipping (d) mean?
     
  3. RemeDesertRat

    RemeDesertRat Very Senior Member

    (d) mean?

    Penny - £=pounds S=shilling d=pennies (old pennies) new pennies are p

    And before you ask I've no idea why d=penny!:) although I suspect it has something to do with the Romans.
     
  4. Alan Allport

    Alan Allport Senior Member

    It's from the old Roman denarius, just as the shilling was represented by an 's' for solidus and the pound was abbreviated to 'l' to represent the Roman unit of weight, the libra.

    Best, Alan
     
  5. gunbunnyB/3/75FA

    gunbunnyB/3/75FA Senior Member

    ok,thanks guys.i just figured that i would ask so that any other yank that didn't know what it meant ether wouldn't have to ask.
     
  6. paulcheall

    paulcheall Son of a Green Howard

    I thought members might be interested in this extract from my Dad's published memoirs about his pay:

    When I was called up my pay was two shillings (10p) a day and half of this was made into an allowance for my mother. This fifty-fifty arrangement continued throughout the war, as my pay increased. Pay in the army was a constant source of complaint among the lads and we were almost always broke. Comparing our rewards with American forces, we were paupers and as we fought the same war it
    was most unfair. As the saying goes – we just had to grin and bear it!
    Pay Parade was an event not to be missed and it would be up on the company notice board what time pay would be given out. An officer would be at a table, with an army blanket spread out on it, and a clerk would be sitting at one end. A queue would form about six yards away and a soldier would step out smartly and salute, say his number and name, and hand his pay book to the clerk who would confirm this. He would then hold his hand out smartly to the officer, say, ‘Thank you, sir!’ salute, about turn and step it out. On active service this went by the board; we received pay if and when it was convenient.

    Paul
    Fighting Through - From Dunkirk to Hamburg - War Diary and autobiography of Bill Cheall - WW2, Dunkirk, D-Day memoir and war diary
     
  7. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    gunbunny
    Notta lotta people know this BUT - The Bank of England was set up by the jewish financiers of Cromwells civil war in the 1600's as they had been banished from Most of Europe in the 12th Century - with the exception of the Synagoge in Amsterdam - and it was a former of W.S. Churchill in those days who was the agent which the money was channelled to Cromwell - the agent was paid 6000pounds per annum - which allowed him to build the palace- on th understanding that he would arrange for the jews to be allowed back into Britain at the end of the civil war - this then became a fact and the jews wanted Bank to normalize things - so they created the Bank of England - and to this day - to is th Director and COMPANGNA - who guarantee payment... and thus the currency has always been Italian in Lira - Soldi & Denari
    Cheers
    Tom canning
     
  8. red ling

    red ling Member

    Hello,
    I am new and have spent a few days looking thro this super website and came across your question re Army pay and thought you might be interested in a page from my fathers service record. It shows that he earnt as a sergeant 84d per day. This is 7shillings which is £2.9s.0d per week.
     
    dbf likes this.
  9. RosyRedd

    RosyRedd Senior Member

    Thanks red ling for sharing that info and also welcome to the forum :)

    I have always assumed that the pay was a fixed, non-negotiable amount. Was that the case or did officers have a different deal does anyone know?

    Jules.
     
  10. Rob Dickers

    Rob Dickers 10th MEDIUM REGT RA

    Might be of some interest
    Best
    Rob

    [​IMG]
     
    RosyRedd and dbf like this.
  11. jetson

    jetson Junior Member

    My Dad an ex Inf WO and his cousin ex Major Royal Tanks were, I recall, comparing notes on their respective pay rates at a family gathering just after the war. I can't now remember the figures quoted but it became engrained in my memory how disparate the pay scales were between officers and other ranks. No wonder with such a paltry marriage allowance, my mother had to work all hours in a factory to make ends meet during the war while dad was overseas. It is true that while I was very proud of his war service; the kid's whose dads were engineering workers at home were a lot better off!
     
  12. jtr

    jtr Member

    G'day,

    I'm looking for pay rates for British Army officers in WW2 AND for any price lists for their uniform and other bits of kit they were required to buy as part of their service. I'm trying to get some idea of their 'cost of living' while in the service.

    I realise this is a big ask but any kind of assistance would be gratefully received!

    Cheers
    John
     

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