£1 in 1845 is worth £1.13 in 1855

Value of £1 from 1845 to 1855

£1 in 1845 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1.13 in 1855, an increase of £0.13 over 10 years. The pound had an average inflation rate of 1.22% per year between 1845 and 1855, producing a cumulative price increase of 12.90%.

This means that prices in 1855 are 1.13 times as high as average prices since 1845, according to the Office for National Statistics composite price index.

The inflation rate in 1845 was 4.49%. The inflation rate in 1855 was 2.94%. The 1855 inflation rate is lower compared to the average inflation rate of 2.94% per year between 1855 and 2024.


Inflation from 1845 to 1855
Cumulative price change12.90%
Average inflation rate1.22%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.13
Price difference
£1 base
£0.13
CPI in 18459.300
CPI in 185510.500
Inflation in 18454.49%
Inflation in 18552.94%
£1 in 1845£1.13 in 1855

GBP inflation since 1845
Annual Rate, the Office for National Statistics CPI
Download

Buying power of £1 in 1845

This chart shows a calculation of buying power equivalence for £1 in 1845 (price index tracking began in 1750).

For example, if you started with £1, you would need to end with £1.13 in order to "adjust" for inflation (sometimes refered to as "beating inflation").

When £1 is equivalent to £1.13 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 1845 dollars, the chart below shows how £1 is worth less over 10 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: 1845-1855
YearPound ValueInflation Rate
1845£1.004.49%
1846£1.044.30%
1847£1.1712.37%
1848£1.02-12.84%
1849£0.96-6.32%
1850£0.90-5.62%
1851£0.87-3.57%
1852£0.870.00%
1853£0.969.88%
1854£1.1014.61%
1855£1.132.94%
1856£1.130.00%
1857£1.08-4.76%
1858£0.98-9.00%
1859£0.97-1.10%
1860£1.003.33%
1861£1.022.15%
1862£1.00-2.11%
1863£0.97-3.23%
1864£0.96-1.11%
1865£0.971.12%
1866£1.025.56%
1867£1.096.32%
1868£1.08-0.99%
1869£1.02-5.00%
1870£1.020.00%
1871£1.031.05%
1872£1.084.17%
1873£1.124.00%
1874£1.08-3.85%
1875£1.05-2.00%
1876£1.050.00%
1877£1.04-1.02%
1878£1.02-2.06%
1879£0.98-4.21%
1880£1.013.30%
1881£1.00-1.06%
1882£1.011.08%
1883£1.00-1.06%
1884£0.98-2.15%
1885£0.95-3.30%
1886£0.94-1.14%
1887£0.92-1.15%
1888£0.941.16%
1889£0.951.15%
1890£0.950.00%
1891£0.961.14%
1892£0.960.00%
1893£0.95-1.12%
1894£0.94-1.14%
1895£0.92-1.15%
1896£0.91-1.16%
1897£0.942.35%
1898£0.940.00%
1899£0.951.15%
1900£0.994.55%
1901£0.990.00%
1902£0.990.00%
1903£1.001.09%
1904£1.000.00%
1905£1.000.00%
1906£1.000.00%
1907£1.011.08%
1908£1.010.00%
1909£1.021.06%
1910£1.031.05%
1911£1.030.00%
1912£1.063.13%
1913£1.05-1.01%
1914£1.050.00%
1915£1.1812.24%
1916£1.4018.18%
1917£1.7525.38%
1918£2.1422.09%
1919£2.3510.05%
1920£2.7215.53%
1921£2.48-8.70%
1922£2.14-13.85%
1923£2.01-6.03%
1924£2.00-0.53%
1925£2.000.00%
1926£1.99-0.54%
1927£1.94-2.70%
1928£1.940.00%
1929£1.91-1.11%
1930£1.86-2.81%
1931£1.78-4.05%
1932£1.74-2.41%
1933£1.70-2.47%
1934£1.700.00%
1935£1.710.63%
1936£1.720.63%
1937£1.783.75%
1938£1.811.20%
1939£1.862.98%
1940£2.1716.76%
1941£2.4110.89%
1942£2.587.14%
1943£2.673.33%
1944£2.742.82%
1945£2.822.75%
1946£2.903.05%
1947£3.117.04%
1948£3.347.61%
1949£3.442.89%
1950£3.553.13%
1951£3.879.09%
1952£4.239.17%
1953£4.353.05%
1954£4.441.98%
1955£4.634.36%
1956£4.875.10%
1957£5.043.53%
1958£5.203.20%
1959£5.230.41%
1960£5.281.03%
1961£5.463.46%
1962£5.704.33%
1963£5.811.89%
1964£6.003.33%
1965£6.284.66%
1966£6.533.94%
1967£6.702.64%
1968£7.014.65%
1969£7.395.37%
1970£7.866.40%
1971£8.609.44%
1972£9.227.13%
1973£10.059.10%
1974£11.6716.04%
1975£14.4924.24%
1976£16.8916.54%
1977£19.5715.85%
1978£21.198.30%
1979£24.0313.39%
1980£28.3517.99%
1981£31.7211.87%
1982£34.458.61%
1983£36.034.59%
1984£37.834.98%
1985£40.136.08%
1986£41.493.40%
1987£43.234.17%
1988£45.344.90%
1989£48.877.78%
1990£53.499.46%
1991£56.635.87%
1992£58.753.74%
1993£59.691.59%
1994£61.132.41%
1995£63.253.47%
1996£64.772.41%
1997£66.813.14%
1998£69.103.43%
1999£70.161.54%
2000£72.242.96%
2001£73.521.77%
2002£74.741.67%
2003£76.902.89%
2004£79.192.98%
2005£81.432.82%
2006£84.033.20%
2007£87.634.29%
2008£91.133.99%
2009£90.65-0.53%
2010£94.834.61%
2011£99.765.20%
2012£102.973.21%
2013£106.103.04%
2014£108.602.36%
2015£109.680.99%
2016£111.581.74%
2017£115.583.58%
2018£118.702.70%
2019£121.672.50%
2020£123.861.80%
2021£126.952.49%
2022£136.977.90%
2023£146.667.07%
2024£152.383.90%*
* Compared to previous annual rate. Not final. See inflation summary for latest 12-month trailing value.
Click to show 4 more rows

This conversion table shows various other 1845 amounts in 1855 pounds, based on the 12.90% change in prices:

Conversion: 1845 pounds in 1855
Initial valueEquivalent value
£1 pound in 1845£1.13 pounds in 1855
£5 pounds in 1845£5.65 pounds in 1855
£10 pounds in 1845£11.29 pounds in 1855
£50 pounds in 1845£56.45 pounds in 1855
£100 pounds in 1845£112.90 pounds in 1855
£500 pounds in 1845£564.52 pounds in 1855
£1,000 pounds in 1845£1,129.03 pounds in 1855
£5,000 pounds in 1845£5,645.16 pounds in 1855
£10,000 pounds in 1845£11,290.32 pounds in 1855
£50,000 pounds in 1845£56,451.61 pounds in 1855
£100,000 pounds in 1845£112,903.23 pounds in 1855
£500,000 pounds in 1845£564,516.13 pounds in 1855
£1,000,000 pounds in 1845£1,129,032.26 pounds in 1855

How to calculate inflation rate for £1, 1845 to 1855

Our calculations use the following inflation rate formula to calculate the change in value between 1845 and 1855:

CPI in 1855 CPI in 1845
×
1845 GBP value
=
1855 GBP value

Then plug in historical CPI values. The U.K. CPI was 9.3 in the year 1845 and 10.5 in 1855:

10.59.3
×
£1
=
£1.13

£1 in 1845 has the same "purchasing power" or "buying power" as £1.13 in 1855.

To get the total inflation rate for the 10 years between 1845 and 1855, we use the following formula:

CPI in 1855 - CPI in 1845CPI in 1845
×
100
=
Cumulative inflation rate (10 years)

Plugging in the values to this equation, we get:

10.5 - 9.39.3
×
100
=
13%

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 1845 → 1855 | UK Inflation Calculator.” Official Inflation Data, Alioth Finance, 28 Mar. 2024, https://www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation/1845?amount=1&endYear=1855.

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 1845 to 1855
Cumulative price change12.90%
Average inflation rate1.22%
Converted amount
£1 base
£1.13
Price difference
£1 base
£0.13
CPI in 18459.300
CPI in 185510.500
Inflation in 18454.49%
Inflation in 18552.94%
£1 in 1845£1.13 in 1855