The shilling was a coin worth one twentieth of a pound sterling, or twelve
pence. It was first minted in the reign of Henry VII as the testoon, and became
known as the shilling sometime in the mid-sixteenth century, circulating until
1990. The word bob was sometimes used for a monetary value of several
shillings, e.g. "ten bob note". Following decimalisation in 1970 the
coin had a value of five new pence. It was made from silver from its
introduction in or around 1503 until 1947, and thereafter in cupronickel.
Prior to Decimal Day in 1971 there were 240 pence in one pound sterling. Twelve
pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound. Values less than
a pound were usually written in terms of shillings and pence, e.g. forty-two
pence would be three shillings and six pence, pronounced "three and six".
Values of less than a shilling were simply written in terms of pence, e.g.
eight pence would be 8d. Although the coin was not minted until
the sixteenth century, the value of a shilling had been used for accounting
purposes since the Anglo-Saxon period. Originally, a shilling was deemed to be
the value of a cow in Kent, or a sheep elsewhere. The value of one shilling
equalling 12d was set by the Normans following the conquest; prior to this
various Anglo-Saxon coins equalling 3, 4, and 12 pence had all been known as
shillings. History
The first coins of the pound sterling with the value of 12d were minted in
1503 or 1504 and were known as testoons. The testoon was one of the first English
coins to bear a real portrait of the monarch on its obverse, and it is for
this reason that it obtained its name from an Italian coin known as the
testone, or headpiece, which had been introduced in Milan in 1474. Between
1544 and 1551 the coinage was debased repeatedly by the governments of Henry
VIII and Edward VI in an attempt to generate more money to fund foreign
wars. This debasement meant that coins produced in 1551 had one-fifth of the
silver content of those minted in 1544, and consequently the value of new
testoons fell from 12d to 6d. The reason the testoon decreased in value is
that unlike today, the value of coins was determined by the market price of
the metal contained within them. This debasement was recognised as a mistake,
and during Elizabeth's reign newly minted coins, including the testoon, had
a much higher silver content and regained their pre-debasement value.
Shillings were minted during the reign of every British monarch following
Edward VI, as well as during the Commonwealth, with a vast number of
variations and alterations appearing over the years. The Royal Mint undertook
a massive recoinage programme in 1816, with large quantities of gold and silver
coin being minted. Previous issues of silver coinage had been irregular, and
the last issue, minted in 1787, did little to alleviate the chronic shortage
of silver coinage in general circulation. New silver coinage was to
be of .925 standard, with silver coins to be minted at 66 shillings to the
pound. Hence, newly minted shillings weighed 87.273 grains or 5.655 grams.
The Royal Mint debased the silver coinage in 1920 from 92.5% silver to 50%
silver. Shillings of both alloys were minted that year. This debasement was
done because of the rising price of silver around the world, and followed
the global trend of the elimination, or the reducing in purity of the silver in
coinage. The minting of silver coinage of the pound sterling ceased completely
in 1946 for similar reasons, exacerbated by the costs of the Second World War.
New "silver" coinage was instead minted in cupronickel, an alloy of copper and
nickel containing no silver at all. Beginning with Lord Wrottesley's
proposals in the 1820s there were various attempts to decimalise the pound
sterling over the next century and a half. These attempts came to nothing
significant until the 1960s when the need for a currency more suited to
simple monetary calculations became pressing. The decision to decimalise was
announced in 1966, with the pound to be redivided into 100, rather than 240,
pence. Decimal Day was set for 15 February 1971, and a whole range of new
coins were introduced. Shillings continued to be legal tender with a
value of 5 new pence until 1990. Design
Testoons issued during the reign of Henry VII feature a right-facing
portrait of the king on the obverse. Surrounding the portrait is the
inscription HENRICUS DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRA, or similar, meaning "Henry, by the
Grace of God, King of England and France". All shillings minted under
subsequent kings and queens bear a similar inscription on the obverse
identifying the monarch, with the portrait usually flipping left-facing to
right-facing or vice versa between monarchs. The reverse features the
escutcheon of the Royal Arms of England, surrounded by the inscription POSVI DEVM
ADIVTORE MEVM, or a variant, meaning "I have made God my helper".
Henry VIII testoons have a different reverse design, featuring a crowned
Tudor rose, but those of Edward VI return to the Royal Arms design used
previously. Starting with Edward VI the coins feature the denomination XII
printed next to the portrait of the king. Elizabeth I and Mary I shillings
are exceptions to this; the former has the denomination printed on the reverse,
above the coat of arms, and the latter has no denomination printed at all. Some
shillings issued during Mary's reign bear the date of minting, printed above
the dual portraits of Mary and Philip. Early sixpences of James I feature the
alternative reverse inscription EXVRGAT DEVS DISSIPENTVR INIMICI, meaning "Let
God arise and His enemies be scattered", becoming QVAE DEVS CONIVNXIT NEMO
SEPARET, meaning "What God hath put together let no man put asunder" after
1604. In popular culture
A slang name for a shilling was a "bob". The first recorded use was in a case of
coining heard at the Old Bailey in 1789, when it was described as cant, "well
understood among a certain set of people", but heard only among criminals
and their associates. In the Gambia, white people are called
toubabs, which some claim may derive from the possibility that locals,
everytime encountering a westerner, requested two shillings, or from the
colonial practice of paying locals two shillings for running errands—though
some consider this explanation implausible.
To "take the King's shilling" was to enlist in the army or navy, a phrase
dating back to the early 19th century. To "cut someone off with a shilling"
means to disinherit, as leaving a family member a single shilling in one's will
ensured that it could not be challenged in court as an oversight.
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