British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
farthing (from Old English fēorðing, from fēorða, a fourth) abbreviated ''qua.'' (L. ''
quadrans
The quadrans (literally meaning "a quarter") or teruncius ("three unciae") was a low-value Roman bronze coin worth one quarter of an as. The quadrans was issued from the beginning of cast bronze coins during the Roman Republic with three p ...
shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...
, or of one
penny
A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...
; initially minted in copper and then in bronze, which replaced the earlier English farthings. Before Decimal Day in 1971, Britain used the
Carolingian monetary system
The Carolingian monetary system, also called the Carolingian coinage systempound sterling of 20 shillings, each of 12 pence. Each penny was divided into 4 farthings, thus, a pound sterling contained 960 farthings, and a shilling contained 48 farthings. From 1860 to 1971, the purchasing power of a farthing ranged between 12p and 0.2p in 2017 values.
The farthing coin was legal tender during the reigns of eleven British monarchs:
George I George I or 1 may refer to:
People
* Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631)
* George I of Constantinople (d. 686)
* George I of Antioch (d. 790)
* George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9)
* George I of Georgia (d. 1027)
* Yuri Dolgor ...
,
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
, and
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
,
George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...
,
William IV
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...
, and
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
and
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
,
Edward VIII
Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire and Emperor of India from 20 January 19 ...
,
George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...
, and
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
. In Britain and Northern Ireland the farthing coin ceased to be legal tender on 1 January 1961; however, the farthing remaind legal tender in the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
, the
Falkland Islands Dependencies
The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the various British territories in Sub-Antarctica and Antarctica which were governed from the Falkland Islands and its capital Port Sta ...
, and the
British Antarctic Territory
The British Antarctic Territory (BAT) is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area. It comprises the region south of 60°S latitude and between ...
until 31 October 1970.
In two-and-a-half centuries in circulation as British currency, the reverse face of the farthing coin was minted in two designs: (i) from the 18th century until 1936, the farthing featured the figure of
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
; and (ii) from 1937, the farthing featured the image of a wren. Like all British coins, the
obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''o ...
A British copper farthing succeeded the English farthing after England and Scotland were united into the
Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
in 1707, although not immediately. Under Queen Anne, a small number of pattern farthings were struck, but none for circulation, as so many English farthings from previous reigns were still available. Some British copper farthings were struck in the reigns of George I and George II. By the accession of George III, in 1760, many counterfeits were in circulation, and the Royal Mint stopped minting copper coins in 1775. The next farthings were the first struck by steam power, in 1799 by Matthew Boulton at his Soho Mint, under licence. Boulton coined more in 1806, and the Royal Mint resumed production in 1821. The farthing was struck regularly under George IV and William IV, by then with a design very like a smaller version of the penny.
Values less than a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e.g. three shillings and six pence (3/6), pronounced "three and six" or "three and sixpence". Values of less than a shilling were simply written in pence, e.g. (8d), pronounced "eightpence". A price with a farthing in it would be written like this: (d), pronounced "twopence r tuppencefarthing", or (1/), pronounced "one and threepence r thruppencefarthing" or (19/), pronounced "nineteen and eleven three farthing(s)". 19/ was a value used to make goods seem "significantly" cheaper than £1, usage similar to the modern £19.99, which is also the approximate value in 2021 of 19/ in 1961, the year when the farthing was withdrawn from circulation.
The first bronze farthings were struck in 1860, in the reign of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
, with a new
reverse
Reverse or reversing may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001
* ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film
* ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian crime-drama film
* ''Reverse'' (Morandi album), 2005
* ''Reverse'' ...
designed by
Leonard Charles Wyon
Leonard Charles Wyon (23 November 1826 – 20 August 1891) was a British engraver of the Victorian era most notable for his work on the gold and silver coinage struck for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 and the bronze coinage of ...
. This shows a seated
Britannia
Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
, holding a trident, with the word above. Between 1860 and 1895 there is a lighthouse to Britannia's left and a ship to her right. Various minor adjustments were made over the years to the level of the sea around Britannia and the angle of her trident. Some issues feature toothed edges to the coin, while others feature beading.
After 1860, seven different obverses were used. Edward VII, George V, George VI and Elizabeth II each had a single obverse for the farthings produced during their respective reigns. Over the long reign of Queen Victoria, two different obverses were used. The farthing of 1860 carried the so-called "bun head", or "draped bust" of Queen Victoria on the obverse. The inscription around the bust read (abbreviated Latin: Victoria by the grace of God queen of Britain defender of the faith). This was replaced in 1895 by the "old head", or "veiled bust". The inscription on these coins read (Victoria by the grace of God queen of Britain defender of the faith empress of India).
Farthings issued during the reign of Edward VII feature his likeness and bear the inscription (Edward VII by the grace of God king of all Britons defender of the faith emperor of India). Similarly, those issued during the reign of George V feature his likeness and bear the inscription (George V by the grace of God king of all Britons defender of the faith emperor of India).
A farthing of King Edward VIII (reigned 1936) does exist, dated 1937, but technically it is a pattern coin, one produced for official approval, which it was due to receive at about the time that the King abdicated, and in the event no farthings bearing his likeness were ever issued. The pattern has a left-facing portrait of the king, who considered this to be his best side, and consequently broke the tradition of alternating the direction in which the monarch faces on coins — some viewed this as indicating bad luck for the reign; the inscription on the obverse is (Edward VIII by the grace of God king of all Britons defender of the faith emperor of India).
One feature of the pattern farthing of Edward VIII was a redesigned reverse displaying the wren, one of Britain's smallest birds. From 1937 this appeared on the regular-issue farthings of George VI and was continued in the 1950s on the farthings of Elizabeth II.
George VI coins feature the inscription (George VI by the grace of God king of all Britons defender of the faith emperor of India) before 1949, and (George VI by the grace of God king of all Britons defender of the faith) thereafter. Unlike the penny, farthings were minted throughout the early reign of Elizabeth II, bearing the inscription (Elizabeth II by the grace of God queen of all Britons defender of the faith) in 1953, and (Elizabeth II by the grace of God queen defender of the faith) thereafter.
Obverse designs
File:GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE II, 1746 -FARTHING b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg, George II
File:GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE III -FARTHING 1807 b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg, George III
File:GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE IV 1822 -FARTHING b - Flickr - woody1778a.jpg, George IV
File:Obverse of farthing Великобритания, 1831 - фартинг, Вильгельм IV 2.jpg, William IV
File:Victoria farthing.jpg, Victoria (young)
File:Victorianewfarthingobv.jpg, Victoria (old)
File:EdwardvIIfarthingobv.jpg, Edward VII
File:1919farthingobv.jpg, George V
File:1944farthingobv.jpg, George VI
File:Britfarthing1954obv.jpg, Elizabeth II
Mintages
See also
*
Pound sterling
Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...
*
Mill (currency)
The mill (American English) or mil (Commonwealth English, except Canada) is a unit of currency (sometimes symbolized as ₥), used in several countries as one-thousandth of the base unit. In the United States, it is a notional unit equivalent to a ...