£1 in 1850 is worth £1.06 in 1853

Value of £1 from 1850 to 1853

£1 in 1850 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1.06 in 1853, an increase of £0.06 over 3 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 1.95% per year between 1850 and 1853, producing a cumulative price increase of 5.95%.

This means that prices in 1853 are 1.06 times as high as average prices since 1850, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1850 was -5.62%. The inflation rate in 1853 was 9.88%. The 1853 inflation rate is higher compared to the average inflation rate of 3.01% per year between 1853 and 2024.


Inflation from 1850 to 1853
Cumulative price change5.95%
Average inflation rate1.95%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.06
Price difference
£1 base
£0.06
CPI in 18508.400
CPI in 18538.900
Inflation in 1850-5.62%
Inflation in 18539.88%
£1 in 1850£1.06 in 1853

Recent GBP inflation
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £1 in 1850

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1850 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £1.06 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £1.06 over time, that means that the "real value" of a single U.K. pound decreases over time. In other words, a pound will pay for fewer items at the store.

This effect explains how inflation erodes the value of a pound over time. By calculating the value in 1850 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 3 years.

According to the Office for National Statistics, each of these GBP amounts below is equal in terms of what it could buy at the time:

Pound inflation: 1850-1853
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1850£1.00-5.62%
1851£0.96-3.57%
1852£0.960.00%
1853£1.069.88%
1854£1.2114.61%
1855£1.252.94%
1856£1.250.00%
1857£1.19-4.76%
1858£1.08-9.00%
1859£1.07-1.10%
1860£1.113.33%
1861£1.132.15%
1862£1.11-2.11%
1863£1.07-3.23%
1864£1.06-1.11%
1865£1.071.12%
1866£1.135.56%
1867£1.206.32%
1868£1.19-0.99%
1869£1.13-5.00%
1870£1.130.00%
1871£1.141.05%
1872£1.194.17%
1873£1.244.00%
1874£1.19-3.85%
1875£1.17-2.00%
1876£1.170.00%
1877£1.15-1.02%
1878£1.13-2.06%
1879£1.08-4.21%
1880£1.123.30%
1881£1.11-1.06%
1882£1.121.08%
1883£1.11-1.06%
1884£1.08-2.15%
1885£1.05-3.30%
1886£1.04-1.14%
1887£1.02-1.15%
1888£1.041.16%
1889£1.051.15%
1890£1.050.00%
1891£1.061.14%
1892£1.060.00%
1893£1.05-1.12%
1894£1.04-1.14%
1895£1.02-1.15%
1896£1.01-1.16%
1897£1.042.35%
1898£1.040.00%
1899£1.051.15%
1900£1.104.55%
1901£1.100.00%
1902£1.100.00%
1903£1.111.09%
1904£1.110.00%
1905£1.110.00%
1906£1.110.00%
1907£1.121.08%
1908£1.120.00%
1909£1.131.06%
1910£1.141.05%
1911£1.140.00%
1912£1.183.13%
1913£1.17-1.01%
1914£1.170.00%
1915£1.3112.24%
1916£1.5518.18%
1917£1.9425.38%
1918£2.3722.09%
1919£2.6110.05%
1920£3.0115.53%
1921£2.75-8.70%
1922£2.37-13.85%
1923£2.23-6.03%
1924£2.21-0.53%
1925£2.210.00%
1926£2.20-0.54%
1927£2.14-2.70%
1928£2.140.00%
1929£2.12-1.11%
1930£2.06-2.81%
1931£1.98-4.05%
1932£1.93-2.41%
1933£1.88-2.47%
1934£1.880.00%
1935£1.890.63%
1936£1.900.63%
1937£1.983.75%
1938£2.001.20%
1939£2.062.98%
1940£2.4016.76%
1941£2.6710.89%
1942£2.867.14%
1943£2.953.33%
1944£3.042.82%
1945£3.122.75%
1946£3.213.05%
1947£3.447.04%
1948£3.707.61%
1949£3.812.89%
1950£3.933.13%
1951£4.299.09%
1952£4.689.17%
1953£4.823.05%
1954£4.921.98%
1955£5.134.36%
1956£5.395.10%
1957£5.583.53%
1958£5.763.20%
1959£5.790.41%
1960£5.851.03%
1961£6.053.46%
1962£6.314.33%
1963£6.431.89%
1964£6.643.33%
1965£6.954.66%
1966£7.233.94%
1967£7.422.64%
1968£7.764.65%
1969£8.185.37%
1970£8.706.40%
1971£9.529.44%
1972£10.207.13%
1973£11.139.10%
1974£12.9216.04%
1975£16.0524.24%
1976£18.7016.54%
1977£21.6715.85%
1978£23.468.30%
1979£26.6113.39%
1980£31.3917.99%
1981£35.1211.87%
1982£38.148.61%
1983£39.894.59%
1984£41.884.98%
1985£44.436.08%
1986£45.943.40%
1987£47.864.17%
1988£50.204.90%
1989£54.117.78%
1990£59.239.46%
1991£62.705.87%
1992£65.053.74%
1993£66.081.59%
1994£67.682.41%
1995£70.023.47%
1996£71.712.41%
1997£73.963.14%
1998£76.503.43%
1999£77.681.54%
2000£79.982.96%
2001£81.391.77%
2002£82.751.67%
2003£85.142.89%
2004£87.682.98%
2005£90.152.82%
2006£93.043.20%
2007£97.024.29%
2008£100.893.99%
2009£100.36-0.53%
2010£104.994.61%
2011£110.455.20%
2012£114.003.21%
2013£117.463.04%
2014£120.242.36%
2015£121.430.99%
2016£123.541.74%
2017£127.963.58%
2018£131.422.70%
2019£134.702.50%
2020£137.131.80%
2021£140.552.49%
2022£151.657.90%
2023£162.377.07%
2024£168.713.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.

This conversion table shows various other 1850 amounts in 1853 pounds, based on the 5.95% change in prices:

Conversion: 1850 pounds in 1853
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1850£1.06 pounds in 1853
£5 pounds in 1850£5.30 pounds in 1853
£10 pounds in 1850£10.60 pounds in 1853
£50 pounds in 1850£52.98 pounds in 1853
£100 pounds in 1850£105.95 pounds in 1853
£500 pounds in 1850£529.76 pounds in 1853
£1,000 pounds in 1850£1,059.52 pounds in 1853
£5,000 pounds in 1850£5,297.62 pounds in 1853
£10,000 pounds in 1850£10,595.24 pounds in 1853
£50,000 pounds in 1850£52,976.19 pounds in 1853
£100,000 pounds in 1850£105,952.38 pounds in 1853
£500,000 pounds in 1850£529,761.90 pounds in 1853
£1,000,000 pounds in 1850£1,059,523.81 pounds in 1853

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1850 to 1853

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1850 and 1853:

CPI in 1853 CPI in 1850
×
1850 GBP value
=
1853 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 8.4 in the year 1850 and 8.9 in 1853:

8.98.4
×
£1
=
£1.06

£1 in 1850 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £1.06 in 1853.

To get the total inflation rate for the 3 years between 1850 and 1853, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1853 - CPI in 1850CPI in 1850
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (3 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

8.9 - 8.48.4
×
100
=
6%

Data source & citation

Raw data for these calculations comes from the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). A composite index is created by combining price data from several different published sources, both official and unofficial. The Consumer Price Index, normally used to compute inflation, has only been tracked since 1988. All inflation calculations after 1988 use the Office for National Statistics' Consumer Price Index, except for the current year, which is based on The Bank of England's forecast.

You may use the following MLA citation for this page: “£1 in 1850 → 1853 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 19 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/1850-GBP-in-1853?amount=1.

Special thanks to QuickChart for their chart image API, which is used for chart downloads.

in2013dollars.com is a reference website maintained by the Official Data Foundation.


Ian Webster

About the author

Ian Webster is an engineer and data expert based in San Mateo, California. He has worked for Google, NASA, and consulted for governments around the world on data pipelines and data analysis. Disappointed by the lack of clear resources on the impacts of inflation on economic indicators, Ian believes this website serves as a valuable public tool. Ian earned his degree in Computer Science from Dartmouth College.

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» Read more about inflation and investment.

Inflation from 1850 to 1853
Cumulative price change5.95%
Average inflation rate1.95%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.06
Price difference
£1 base
£0.06
CPI in 18508.400
CPI in 18538.900
Inflation in 1850-5.62%
Inflation in 18539.88%
£1 in 1850£1.06 in 1853