When I was a kid...

When I was a kid, I went to private schooling (not the most prestigious one but still a rather good one where some kids had parents with Porsches, but not my family) and my parents were raking in around 200,000 USD before taxes, and not accounting benefits too. I'm not American but we'll just estimate using US currency.

My mother made me learn violin (hated it), I did sports, went on my first plane ride vacation for two weeks when I was about 14, and I live in one of the richest areas of my country, but nowadays my parents only make about 150,000 annually.

I'm in university, as is my older brother, and I'm thinking about becoming a lawyer. I also just spent the last school year abroad as an international exchange student in Europe.

I've always wondered for historical perspective how wealthy my family would've been 210 years back - in the Napoleonic times. Could anyone guesstimate where I'd be in such a society?

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measuringworth.com/ukcompare/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_of_commissions_in_the_British_Army
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You'd probably still be upper middle class. Not aristocracy but "son of successful merchant" tier. You'd be able to buy an officer commission in the military, rather than being a grunt for example.

You would have been upper middle class. Depending on your parents' occupation and what you'd end up doing after university, you'd be either a rich tradesman or the lowest level of gentleman.

Thanks for the answers fellas. I appreciate it.

Can you elaborate more? I'm really interested. I really wouldn't consider myself to be "rich," but I can certainly acknowledge my family is richer than most in the world, and marginally so in the country.

I feel like an officer's comission in say, the British military of the time, would drain my family and my own wealth significantly, but would be a good job to my knowledge.

What does the lowest level of gentleman entail? Let's say Mr Darcy is the example of the highest level of gentleman.

>What does the lowest level of gentleman entail?
Enough money to live comfortably off passive income, or alternatively jobs in the military, religious, academic, government field.
For example, your income and a trade occupation would disqualify you in the eyes of most of the gentry. Using Pride & prejudice, compare Elizabeth's rich merchant uncle (snubbed pleb) with the philandering army officer or the sycophantic parson cousin (acknowledged gents). Jobs like private attorney and city man straddle the line.
An army commission wouldn't drain you by itself, but living on the same level as your fellow officers likely would. A commission in the navy (given a patron) or the artillery/engineers would be totally appropriate tho.
Pls ask something specific if you want more info.

Nothing to specific, but thanks for such answers. Very informative and much appreciated!

Can we easily translate money made and spent by the military officers of those days into today's currencies? How much would the uniform and the commission cost a man? Anything relevant to such a life I'd love to read, especially since you seem to be very learned on the subject - glad I posted this when I did!

>Can we easily translate money made and spent by the military officers of those days into today's currencies?
Not easily. There's a couple sites that offer estimations tho, this is what I usually use: measuringworth.com/ukcompare/

>How much would the uniform and the commission cost a man?
Commission: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_of_commissions_in_the_British_Army
Uniform: depends, from a few guineas to a hundred depending on how dandy you wanna be. Tailoring alone could cost more than the uniform itself, and the gold accessories of the upper ranks could be quite damn costly. The accessories like sword, pistols and stuff could run you hundreds of pounds.

>Anything relevant to such a life I'd love to read, especially since you seem to be very learned on the subject - glad I posted this when I did!
Like novels and shit? Read period authors or more modern ones like Heyer, O'Brian, Woodman, and other napoleonic wars british fiction, they're generally very accurate and more detailed about life at that level than most accessible historical works.
If you're a uni student you might wanna check if your library has Manners, Morals and Class in England, 1774-1858, it's not worth to buy because it's in the 100-200€ range, but it's very accurate about the social class you'd be in.

>hundreds of pounds
You seem very well educated and read-up here, so what would your personal estimate of a couple hundred pounds be in say, today's US $? Probably 2-3 grand maybe?

Oh lol, when I meant read, I meant whatever you wanted to say. You seem to really know your shit so if you just write I'll be glad to educate myself with your shared periodical knowledge.

I will certainly look for that book - thanks for that!

Multiply by 110 would roughly be 1812 pounds to usd today.

>what would your personal estimate of a couple hundred pounds be in say, today's US $? Probably 2-3 grand maybe?
More like 10-15k. Remember that we're still in an age of artisanal production of luxury goods. Shit gets expensive fast if you want more than shit tier quality.
Also be mindful that the napoleonic wars wrecked european economies, and the industrial revolution played havoc with prices. Inflation was ridiculous between the beginning and the end of the war, nevermind beginning and end of the regency era.

>the industrial revolution played havoc with price
How so do you mean?

I know there was insane economic inequality in those times, with poor Brits working terrible factory jobs for almost no money whilst their overlords made millions and sat around all lazy and dandy all day bathing in their insane wealth, but I'm not quite sure what you're getting at.

Still very interested though - please do continue!

No no, I'm talking about the period here, not the phenomenon. Prices in the first half of the century fluctuated something fierce. I'm not explaining you why because I'm absolutely unqualified to do so (and also it's late night here, if you have more questions I'll answer tomorrow).

It's late here too (I live in Finland now).
I'm up writing an essay on the Nazis, my final one for the school semester and then I'm free for summer.

Later user - enjoy your night, and I guess I'll chat with you tomorrow again. Thanks again!

How much would it take to outfit a general?

What would the living costs of a Napoleonic general be, and what was his lifestyle like?

(pic related-ish, I was seriously blown away by how fancy American civil war generals' swords were when I saw them for the first time a couple weeks ago)

We make about 25,000 usd a year between my wife and I. How fucked are we in Napoleonic Europe?

goddamn, that's just absurdly ornate

Damn... what do u do for a living?

I'd like to know this too. My family makes about a million a year, which I'm sure would be enough to get me into a pretty cozy military position.

A scrimmage in a Border Station-
A canter down some dark defile
Two thousand pounds of education
Drops to a ten-rupee jezail.
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote
No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
Or ward the tulwar's downward blow.
Strike hard who cares - shoot straight who can
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem.
The troopships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap, alas! as we are dear.

A glorious mention in dispatches, a war hero in the family, a son who gave his life for his country, all translated into further prestige back home. Well worth it.

you'd be napoleon bro. is that what you want to hear?

btw only do law if you really want to do it and you're good at it. otherwise it will just give you depression/anxiety. t. failed lawyer

I'd say about 4 of your 7 children would have died before the age of 8

you probably end up selling everything you own for a one-way ticket to America