Index  (i)  (ii)  (iii)  (iv)  (v)  Preface.  (1)  (2)  (3)  (4)  (5)  (6)  (7)  (8)  (9)  (10)  (11)  (12)  (13)  (14)  (15)  (16)  (17)  (18)  (19)  (20)  (21)  (iii) Table A The purchasing Power of the Pound In the year 1914 prices in Britain were no higher than they had been two hundred years earlier.. Then, in the first weeks of the Great War, gold coin was replaced by paper money; from this time on the value of the £ fluctuated and generally declined as this table shows;- Year Purchasing Power of £ (Shillings and pence) 1914 20/0 1916 13/8 1918 9/10 1920 8/0 1930 12/8 1937 13/0 1960 4/6 Average wages in Britain had risen rapidly from 1870 to 1900 while prices remained steady. Wages then remained at much the same level until after the world depression of the early 1930's while prices soared during the 1914-1918 war and fell later on. From the late 1930's both wages and prices rose continuously.