From the Illustrated London News, October 1842.
For comparison purposes, on the headline inflation rate, £1 in 1842 is approximately £85 in 2011,
and when you went shopping:
- 1lb beef cost 6½d
- 1lb bread cost 2d
- 1 pint strong beer ½d
(There were 240d (old pence) in the pound.)
Approximate wages per annum: a farm worker earned £29, and a labourer earned £42. So it's very clear that only the rich were going to end up in Highgate.
(Food and wages figures from the excellent foodtimeline.org, to whom much thanks.)
I think that these prices (even comparatively) show that dying was an expensive business. It would be fascinating to know what % of the dead took up the offer in Victorian London. I suspect that it's not that many.